LAKE PLACID, N.Y. –  The Lake Placid Olympic Museum, located in the Olympic Center, is excited to announce the opening of their new, permanent exhibit, Quest for Speed.  The exhibit explores a speed skater’s quest for speed at the Olympic Games and what it takes to attain their goals.

This exhibit engages visitors with a timeline that showcases the design evolution of speed skating equipment, interactive activities, and graphic text panels sharing a glimpse into the mind of some of speed skating’s greatest.  Olympic athletes highlighted include: Charles Jewtraw; Jack Shea; Valentine Bialas; Jeanne Ashworth; Bonnie Blair; Apolo Ohno; and Eric Heiden.

Museum Manager, Alison Haas says, “I am excited to share with our visitors never before seen interview footage with Eric Heiden, five-time Olympic gold medalist from 1980, along with local Junior National competitors demonstrating the mental and physical skills necessary to achieve success.”  An additional interactive video features a scrapbook from 1916-1925 that tells the story behind Lake Placid’s development into a winter sports mecca.  The scrapbook, belonging to Henry Uihlein, allows visitors to explore a selection of pages and discover his passionate support for the region’s early speed skaters, especially as Lake Placid takes its first steps onto the Olympic stage when Uihlein brought the village’s first international event in 1920, the International Outdoor Speed Skating Championships. 

Quest for Speed is designed by Drew Harty of Galene Studios in Treadwell, New York and is funded by the Henry Uihlein II and Mildred A. Uihlein Foundation.

To celebrate the exhibit, a reception will be held at the Lake Placid Olympic Museum on Monday, May 23, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.  For more information about this exhibit and the speed skating stories in Lake Placid, please visit the Lake Placid Olympic Museum on Main Street. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Lake Placid Olympic Museum
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About Lake Placid Olympic Museum

The mission of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum is to tell the world about the Olympic movement and Lake Placid’s rich winter sports’ history in order to promote the values of Olympism to the broadest possible audience.  The museum and its collections is governed by the Lake Placid Olympic Museum board of trustees and is a 501 c3 corporation.  For more information about the museum, visit: www.lpom.org.