Phillip Tahmindjis

Phillip Tahmindjis, born in a Sydney suburb, started playing ice hockey for the Canterbury Pacers and was also a short-track skater before he started with long-track speed skating. Starting as a backmarker at the 1985 World Junior Championships, he improved to 12th the following year. His talents where mainly with the shorter distances, and he took part in four World Sprint tournament between 1987 and 1994, finishing 28th twice while being disqualified the other two times. At Calgary in 1988, Tahmindjis took part in his first Olympic Games, skating the 1,000 and 1,500 m. In 1990, Tahmindjis started to skate allround World Championships as well (1990 to 1992), finishing around 30th each time. At the 1992 Olympics, Tahmindjis also started in the long distances, 5 and 10K. He claimed his best Olympic result in the 5,000, finishing 25th, but was disqualified in the longer distance. At the 1994 Olympics, in his final season, he again only participated in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m. Outside of skating, Tahmindjis also competing in various forms of cycling, including track cycling and mountain biking. He settled in the United States, where he worked as a fitness coach to professional athletes in different sports.

Personal Bests: 500 – 38.67 (1993); 1000 – 1:14.97 (1994); 1500 – 1:55.65 (1993); 5000 – 6:57.91 (1991); 10000 – 14:58.00 (1991).