Derek Parra

Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is a Mexican American inline skater and speed skater from San Bernardino, California, who graduated from Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California, in 1988. Parra won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Derek Parra

Personal information
Born	(1970-03-15) March 15, 1970 San Bernardino, California
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Men's speed skating Representing the  United States Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City 1500 m 2002 Salt Lake City 5000 m World Single Distance Championships 2001 Salt Lake City 1500 m World Allround Championships 2002 Heerenveen Overall U.S. Allrounds 2000 Overall U.S. Long Track Championships 2004 1500 m

Parra's most successful season was from 2001 to 2002. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he took the gold in the 1500 meters, an event in which he had been expected to do well but faced a deep pool of competition. Before that, he won the silver in the 5000 meters being bested by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands. He has worked part-time in Home Depot's gardening department in West Valley, Utah.[1] In his book, Reflections in the Ice, Parra recounts pursuing his dream of becoming an inline skater at 17, working at McDonald's in Tampa, Florida, and being so poor he had to eat out of the trash.[1][2]

Parra was selected to take over as U.S. speed skating national all-around coach for the 2010 Olympics.

He appears in a Restore Our Future television ad endorsing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Parra became friends with Romney when he was president of the Salt Lake City Olympic organizing committee.[3]