Bonnie Blair, a five-time gold medal Olympic speed skater, spoke and signed autographs in Anchorage on Friday, January 20, 2012. BP brought Blair to town as part of the company’s USA Olympic sponsorship. Blair, who won six medals overall in her career, opened her talk by describing her first gold medal moment in 1988. She was visibly choked up at describing the scene in Calgary when saw members of her family in the audience before taking her place on the podium. It’s a story she must have told countless times. I was struck by how the emotion still resonated some 24 years later, and I had a chance to ask her about that moment about the role family plays in elite-level athletics. –Marc Lester