Vote For Sheila
2 time Olympian, and multiple US national sprint champ Elli Ochowicz just sent me an email worth re-posting here.
Elli writes:
My mom has just been nominated for the Olympic Hall of Fame and I am trying to get the word out. Go to http://www.usolympichalloffame.com/?page_id=28 and vote for her.
I was wondering if it you might be willing to make a post on your site about this. I know this would help her get some serious exposure so if you are willing it would really mean a lot.
The voting is from now through Friday, March 28. Anyone can go to this website and place a vote..
It’s my pleasure to help out, especially since I had not known much about Elli’s mom, Sheila Young-Ochowicz, other than she had won a medal or two in the Olympics “a long, long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away“.
It’s amazing what wikipedia has in it!, reading the entry, I was floored at what she accomplished in her career.
How about this for having a “pretty good year”, in 1976 Shelia:
- Won Gold in the 500, Silver in the 1500, & Bronze in the 1,000 during the Olympics
- was World Sprint Champion and 3rd at world allaround champs.
- Skated 3 world records
- then won the world sprint track cycling championships.
Of course her career was more than just one year, check out the Wikipedia entry for more. Including her comeback in 1981.
After reading this, I am convinced Sheila is one of the greatest athletes the USA has ever had in speedskating & track cycling. I love this sport, but I realize, reading this, how ignorant most of us are about the history of it. (for example, did you know that the first women’s allaround champion, in 1936, was an American!)
As Elli & I were chatting about this, she mentioned how it always seems that the cyclists & triathletes all seem to band together and get their candidates voted in.
There might not be as many speedskaters as there are athletes from other sports, but let’s vote as hard as we train!! Remember, voting ends on the 28th, so go to the page and vote.
Filed under: News
Andrew/Eli,
My vote is in. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, and I’ll pass along the voting link.
I was 11 when I saw her on TV. My dad was a skater in holland before he came here, and I still remember how excited he was about how GREAT her “Style” was.
I vote for Shelia
My vote is is for Sheila. I met her in Milwaukee. Great woman. Very friendly and nice. Good luck Sheila
my vote for Sheila - great skater!
To me it is just shocking that she is not in the Hall of Fame already.
And earlier this season I saw her skate on her good old viking skates, one more reason I wanted to get me some of them ASAP.
she’s got my vote, no problem!
I just voted for Shelia. I remember her well as Shelia Young. Never made the connection to Eli
[…] Vote For Sheila, Andrew Love gets the word out about Sheila Young-Ochowicz nomination for the USA Olympic Hall of […]
Yeah! The voting is very easy, by the way, even with a slow internet connection.
I was only 2 in 1976 and was not aware of speedskating until a few years later, and then over 20 years later, I was in the Wolverine club. Like Sue, I finally met Sheila in person in Milwaukee! And…same comment, too!