Great Olympians

Biographies - PE

Pea - Peb - Pec - Ped - Pee - Pei - Pel - Pen - Pep - Per - Pes - Pet - Pey - Pez

Pearce

Olympic Competitor nr 1101

Henry Robert "Bobby" Pearce

B. 1905-09-30, Double Bay, NSW, Australia; D. 1976-05-20
Rowing (2 gold)
1928 1932 HP
Single Sculls gold gold 19200
19200

At Amsterdam, he stopped in his race to allow some ducks to cross, but he still won.
He completely dominated his sport at his time and sometimes coached his opponents as they raced against him. He won the British Empire title, against Jack Beresford, in Hamilton Ontario in 1930 and became a Canadian citizen. He held his Australian qualification for Olympic purposes and returned to Los Angeles to retain his title. He then turned professional, and retired undefeated at the start of the war.

Peberay

Olympic Competitor nr 645

Nikolay Pechalov

Croatia
Weightlifting (1 gold, 1 bronze)
2000 2004 HP
-62 kg gold 13440
-69 kg bronze
13440

Claudia Pechstein

B. 1972-02-22, Berlin, Germany
Speed Skating (5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 HP
5000 m bronze gold gold gold silver 47040
3000 m - bronze silver gold fifth 13570
1500 m - - 7th sixth 1040
Team Pursuit gold 1600
63250

Winner of the 5000 m at Lillehammer, Nagano and Salt Lake City.
At Lillehammer, she upset her countrywoman Gunda Kleeman a first time. At Nagano, Kleeman skated a fantastic world record, becoming the first woman under 7 minutes. One heat later, Pechstein skated 0.04 seconds faster to snatch the gold.
At Salt Lake City, Pechstein was the only favourite, but Gretha Smit of the Netherlands had decided to come down from her marathon skating to try the longest Olympic distance. At her first serious race, she broke the 6:50 barrier. Pechstein again had to defeat a new world record to take her third gold medal, but now she did it with a bit more difference. Despite being 3 seconds down with 1200 m to go, she defeated the Dutch woman by over 2 seconds.

Am I allowed to insert a picture of a pretty lady ?

Maya Pedersen

Switzerland
Skeleton (1 gold)
2002 2006 2010 HP
Skeleton fifth gold 9th 11340
11340

(11100)

Sue Pedersen

USA
Swimming
1968 HP
100 m Free-style silver 4000
200 m Individual Medley silver 4000
400 m Individual Medley fourth 1600
4 x 100 m Free-style Relay
4 x 100 m Medley Relay

Ivan Pedroso

B. 1972-12-17, Cuba
Athletics (1 gold)
1992 1996 2000 2004 HP
Long Jump fourth 12th gold 7th 15825
2400 60 9600 600 15825

Mauritius Prosper "Maurice" Peeters

B. 1882-05-05, the Netherlands; D. 1957-12-06
Cycling (1 gold, 1 bronze)
1920 1924 HP
Sprint (1000 m) gold rep:2nd 9702
Tandem bronze 3200
Team Pursuit QF 430.5
13333

(126 HP)

Aaron Peirsol

USA
Swimming (5 gold, 2 silver)
2000 2004 2008 HP
100 m Backstroke - gold gold 12800
200 m Backstroke silver gold silver 18000
4x100 m Medley Relay - gold gold 3200
34000

Hugo Peitsch

Olympic Competitor nr 1075

Pélabon

Olympic Competitor nr 277

Pelat

Olympic Competitor nr 1140

Alberto Pelegrino

Italy
Fencing (2 gold, 2 silver)

(73 HP)

Georges Pelgrims

Olympic Competitor nr 1625

Federica Pellegrini

Italy
Swimming (1 gold, 1 silver)
2004 2008 HP
200 m Freestyle silver gold 10400
400 m Freestyle fifth 1000
100 m Freestyle 10th 100
4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay 10th 10th 50
4 x 100 m Medley Relay disq 14th 5.6
11555.6

Giovanni Pellielo

Italy
Shooting (2 silver, 1 bronze)
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 HP
Trap 10th 17th bronze silver silver 17595.6
17595.6

Onni Pellinen

B. 1899-02-14, Hankasalmi, Finland; D. 1945-10-30
Wrestling - Greco-Roman (1 silver, 2 bronze)
1924 1928 1932 HP
Light heavyweight (-82.5 kg) bronze bronze 15048
-87 kg silver
15048

Pelloy

Olympic Competitor nr 1341

Gaston Peltier

Olympic Competitor nr 1618

Mihaele Penes

B. 1947-07-22, Bucuresti, Romania
Athletics (1 gold, 1 silver)
1964 1968 HP
Javelin Throw gold silver 15600
15600

Antonios Pepanos

Olympic Competitor nr 231

Marie-José Perec

B. 1968-05-09, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, France
Track and Field (3 gold)
1992 1996 HP
200 m - gold 6400
400 m gold gold 12800
4 x 100 m fourth sixth 560
19760

Michael Johnson was not the first to double on 200 and 400 m  at the Olympics. Perec did it minutes before him, and Valerie Brisco-Hooks had done it before them in 1984.
She is called "la gazelle" in France.
World Champion at 400 m in 1991 and '95.

Jefferson Pérez

B. 1974-07-01, Cuenca, Ecuador
Athletics (1 gold, 1 silver)
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 HP
20 km Walk dnf gold fourth fourth silver 17000
50 km Walk 12th 40
17040

Kieren Perkins

B. 1973-08-14, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Swimming (2 gold, 2 silver)
1992 1996 2000 HP
400 m Free-style silver - - 4000
1500 m Free-style gold gold silver 25200
4 x 200 m Free-style Relay eighth qual - 128
29328

Among his enormous list of amazing achievements are 12 world records, being the first and only person to hold Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific titles simultaneously, and 3 world championship golds, 4 Commonwealth golds and 1 silver, 7 pan pacific golds and 2 silver, and most important, 2 Olympic golds and one silver.
This might not sound like that much, but it was when he still had the 2000 Olympics ahead of him.
At the 1992 Olympics, he shattered the 400m freestyle world record(his own). Evgeni Sadovyi though swam 2 hundreths of a sec. faster, so Perkins got silver.(1 1/2 years later he regained the world record.)
In the 1500m freestyle he swam 14:43.48 to win gold by 18 sec and break the world record by 5 sec(also his own)
At the 1996 Olympics he was very sick, so he failed to qualify for the 400. In the 1500m he managed to qualify last in lane 8. (if he'd been 2 hundreths of a sec. slower he wouldn't have made the final.)
Nobody thought he could possibly win. But, he did. He won in 14:56.80 by 15 m.
It was one of the bravest swims of all time.
He went for a third consecutive gold in Sydney, but came second to his countryman Grant Hackett.
With thanks to Annelisa Johnson of Sydney, who has a website about Perkins :
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Sideline/2691

P. Perquer

Olympic Competitor nr 1199

Louis Perrée

Olympic Competitor nr 643

Jules Perret

Olympic Competitor nr 1081

Pierre Perrier

Olympic Competitor nr 869

Charles Perrin

Olympic Competitor nr 1503

Raphaël Perrissoud

Olympic Competitor nr 290

Jean Perronet

Olympic Competitor nr 46

Ioannis Persakis

Olympic Competitor nr 8

Petros Persakis

Olympic Competitor nr 125

Nikolai Peshalov

B. 1970-05-30, Pazandjik, Bulgaria, competed for Croatia in 2000
Weightlifting (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
1992 1996 2000 HP
-59 kg bronze 24300
-60 kg silver
-62 kg gold
24300

Henri Peslier

Olympic Competitor nr 1351

Pesloy

Olympic Competitor nr 1353

Rodrigo Pessoa

B. 1972-11-29, Paris, France, representing Brazil
Equestrianism, Jumping (1 gold, 2 bronze)
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 HP
Individual 9th 9th 25th gold fifth 9650.125
Team 10th bronze bronze 9th 1345
10995.125

Heinrich Peters

Olympic Competitor nr 306

Søren Peter Petersen

Denmark
Boxing (2 silver)
1920 1924 HP
Heavyweight (+79.4 kg) silver silver 12000
12000

Benjamin Peterson

1950-06-27, Cumberland, Wisconsin, United States
Wrestling, Freestyle (1 gold, 1 silver)
1972 1976 HP
Light-heavyweight gold silver 15600
15600

Brother of John. They both lost in their final to Levan Tediashvili.

John Peterson

B. 1948-10-22, Cumberland, WI, USA
Wrestling, Freestyle (1 gold, 1 silver)
1972 1976 HP
Middleweight silver gold 15600
15600

Brother of Benjamin. They both lost in their final to Levan Tediashvili.

Rolf Peterson

B. 1944-05-11, Halmstad, Sweden
Canoeing (1 gold, 1 silver)
1964 1968 1972 HP
K1 1000 m gold fifth silver 14250
K4 1000 m fifth 750
15000

Reinhold William Eugen "William" Petersson-Björneman (né Petersson)

B. 1895-10-06, Sweden; D. 1965-05-10
Track and Field (1 gold, 1 bronze)
1920 HP
Long Jump gold 9600
4x100 m Relay bronze 640
10240

Charles Frédéric Petit

Olympic Competitor nr 1371

Aristovoulos Petmezas

Olympic Competitor nr 69

Tatyana Petrenko

competed from 1964 as

Tatyana Samusenko

B. 1938, from Minsk, Belarus
Fencing (3 gold, 1 silver)

Member of the Soviet Foil Team, who won gold at Rome, Mexico City and München, and silver at Tokyo.
(116 HP)

Viktor Petrenko

B. 1969-06-27, Ukraine
Figure Skating (1 gold, 1 bronze)
1988 1992 1994 HP
Men's Individual bronze gold fourth 12840
12840

World Champion in 1992.

Dimitrios Petrokokkinos

Olympic Competitor nr 97

Evgeni Petrov

B. 1938-10-16, Moskva, Russia, represented the Soviet Union
Shooting (1 gold, 1 silver)
1968 1972 HP
Skeet gold silver 15600
15600

Vladimir Petrov

Soviet Union
Ice Hockey (2 gold, 1 silver)
1972 1976 1980 HP
Team gold gold silver 12600
12600

Giovanni Pettenella

B. 1943-03-28, Caprino Veronese, Verona, Italy
Cycling - Track (1 gold, 1 silver)
1964 HP
Sprint gold 9600
1000 m Time Trial silver 6000
15600

Peyronnie

Olympic Competitor nr 1495

Paul Peyrusson

Olympic Competitor nr 1286

Paola Pezzo

B. 1969-01-08, Boscochievanuova, near Verona, Italy
Cycling - Mountain Bike (2 gold)
1996 2000 2004 HP
Cross Country gold gold dnf 19200.015
19200.015

In 1996, her cleavage produced one of the pictures of the Olympics. Perhaps for that reason she has been chosen as a member of the jury at a Miss Italy election.

Written 2002-08-22 - last modified 2011-08-12

This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.