Uwe-Jens Mey

Who is Uwe-Jens Mey?

Uwe-Jens Mey is a former speed skater, considered to be the fastest sprinter of his time because of his 500 metres supremacy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was born in Warsaw, Poland.

Originally competing for East Germany, Mey's first notable achievement was in December 1983. At the age of 19, he outpaced André Hoffmann in the 500 metres and by doing so, Mey earned the East German title and a ticket to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. There, Mey finished 8th on his favourite 500 metres distance.

In the years after the Sarajevo Olympics he stood firm in the international sprinting sub-top, making step-by-step progression. At the World Sprint Championships, he finished 6th, 5th and 4th, respectively, in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Finishing second behind Dan Jansen in the overall standing of the first distances World Cup in 1986, Mey established himself at the 500 metres world top. Mey was a true perfectionist, training very hard to improve his technique. During the mid-1980s, he was considered to be the fastest starter in the world.

One week before the start of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, he finished second in the World Sprint Championships, behind a supreme Dan Jansen. This made Jansen the favourite for both the 500 and the 1,000 m. But because of a family tragedy, Jansen turned out to be mentally incapable of sprinting a perfect race; on both distances, Jansen fell. But it still remains doubtful if Jansen would have been able to beat Mey that day; the East German raced perfectly, faster than anyone had ever raced before. His opening time on the first 100 m of the 500 m was 9.76 and he finished in a new world record time of 36.45, a legendary record that would stand firm for four years.