Joey Cheek

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William Joseph Cheek (born June 22, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American speed skater and former inline speed skater. He specializes in the short and middle distances.

Cheek's breakthrough was in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. During that tournament he won the bronze medal in the 1,000 meters and he missed the podium in the 1,500 meters by 0.08 seconds.

In 2003 he won a bronze medal at the World Single Distance Championships in Berlin in the 1,000 and the 1,500 meter events. Both distances at that tournament were won by Dutch speed skater Erben Wennemars. In 2005, Cheek made the podium for the first time in the World Sprint Championships, again behind Wennemars.

On January 22, 2006 in Heerenveen, Joey Cheek fulfilled his potential when he became world sprint champion. On aggregate he beat Dmitry Dorofeyev (Russia) and Jan Bos (Netherlands).

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Cheek won the men's 500-meter event in dominating style, recording a two-run total time of 1:09.76. That time was 0.65 seconds faster than runner-up Dorofeyev, and Cheek was the only competitor to break the 35-second mark in the competition, doing so in both of his runs (34.82 and 34.94). Cheek's time in the first 500m race is an unofficial world record, for the fastest 500m ever at an ice rink at sea level. He went on to win silver in the 1,000 meter race, finishing just behind teammate Shani Davis.

At a press conference after the Olympic 500 meter race, Cheek said that he decided to donate his USOC gold medal bonus ($25,000) to Right To Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization formed by former Olympic champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway. Joey challenged others to make similar pledges to Right To Play. He subsequently donated his prize money from the 1,000 meter race ($15,000) to the same organization.

Since his donation others have joined in and over $390,000 has been contributed to this cause [1]. Of particular note is the fact that he inspired Clara Hughes to donate $10,000 out of her own pocket (Canada does not give bonuses).

He was elected by his teammates to carry the US flag into the closing ceremonies. Near the end of NBC's coverage of the closing ceremonies, commentator Bob Costas noted that Cheek's application to Harvard University had not been accepted and lobbied the Dean of Admissions to reconsider the decision.

Joey Cheek is attending Princeton University as a member of the class of 2011 (after also being accepted by Stanford and Yale, among other universities) [2].

Joey Cheek is the co-founder and president of Team Darfur [3], an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

[edit] External links

• Photos of Joey Cheek
• NBC Olympics Bio
• Joey's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• NPR Interview with Melissa Block
• Joey Cheek named among the Top 10 Persons of 2006
• Joey Continues to use His Sponsors to Raise Money for Right to Play
• Joey's Personal Website
• Team Darfur