MCDERMOTT, TERRY

born Sept. 20, 1940, Essexville, Mich., U.S. byname of Richard Terrance McDermott American speed skater who won the only U.S. gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. A barber from a small town in Michigan, McDermott was a surprise victor at the 1964 Games, winning the 500-metre event by half a second. He was aided in the race by skates borrowed from his team's coach, Leo Freisinger, and a good-luck pin given to him by Freisinger's wife, who had already loaned a good-luck pin to Lidiya Skoblikova, winner of four gold medals at the 1964 speed-skating competition. A national indoor champion in 1960 and a North American indoor gold medalist in 1961, McDermott was relatively new to the international scene when he won the gold. He won the silver medal in the 500-metre event at the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble, France, despite skating last and on ice that had melted throughout the day. Erhard Keller of West Germany, winner of the gold at Grenoble, remarked of the race, If [McDermott] had started in the earlier heats while the ice was still good, I'd have lost. It's as simple as that. McDermott was long respected by the speed-skating community as an official and was invited by the International Olympic Committee to take the Olympic oath on behalf of all officials at the opening ceremonies of the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, New York, U.S.