Uwe-Jens Mey

Between 1988 and 1992, Uwe-Jens Mey was the world’s top 500 m skater. He captured the Olympic title in the distance in both 1988 and 1992, the former representing East Germany, the latter competing for the reunited Germany. In the years in between he also won the 500 m World Cup three times (1989-1991), in addition to three 1000 m World Cups (1988-1990). Despite these successes, Mey never managed to win the World Sprint Championships. A runner-up three times, he was denied the title by Igor Zhelezovsky (1989, 1991) and Dan Jansen (1988).

The latter was also Mey’s primary opponent in the 1992 Olympics, Mey’s planned retirement race. Within the course of a week in January 1992, first Mey and then Jansen broke Mey’s old world record (set during the Calgary Olympics). But in Albertville, it was Mey who took home the gold. In addition to his international titles, Uwe-Jens Mey won two (East) German sprint championships (1986, 1991), five 500 m titles (1984, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992) and one in the 1000 m (1989). Mey later became active as a salesman and was involved with Germany’s Christian Democratic party CDU.

Personal Bests: 500 – 36.43 (1992); 1000 – 1:13.11 (1988); 1500 – 2:02.27 (1985).