Decked out in his shimmering gold uniform and thrashing all comers, Eric Heiden made winning five speed-skating gold medals at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics look easy.

But en route to Olympic and cereal-box fame, Heiden developed a tough-as-nails mental approach to his training, then he used that tenacity long after he stepped off the medal stand.

In fact, he became a world-class cyclist and then followed in his father's footsteps and by becoming a surgeon—making both look pretty easy too.

A 17-year-old Heiden began his Olympic speed skating-career in 1976 when he finished seventh in the 1,500 meters and 19th in the 5,000 meters. During the following three years, he became unstoppable, capturing the world championships from 1977 to 1979.

In addition to Heiden, there was another little story brewing at Lake Placid—something called the Miracle on Ice. The U.S. hockey team, a group of college players, upended the heavily favored Soviet Union on their way to capturing the gold medal.

But unlike the hockey team, there was pressure on Heiden because he was supposed to win. And he did not disappoint, winning all five speed-skating events from the 500 to the 10,000 meters. He was the first person in Olympic history to win five gold medals in individual events in the same Games.

After the Olympics, Heiden decided to go in a different direction—sort of. He would try his luck at cycling, which had been an integral part of his Olympic training.

Heiden won the U.S. Championship and went on to fulfill a dream by racing in the 1986 Tour de France. It was the only time Heiden competed in the Tour de France, and he had to drop out of the race when he crashed and suffered a concussion.

Yet, for all of his physical prowess, Heiden believes that in sports at the elite level, there is very little separation among great athletes.

"In my eyes, what separates the best from the very best is mental toughness," Heiden says, adding that in cycling, "there are a lot times you want to jump in the car and give up and jump on the next plane home. But when you think about the people who have supported you, the time and effort you put in, you can't give up. You talk your way out of quitting."

That same mental toughness from his sports training prepared him to pursue another career change—a jump into medicine.

"A lot of skill sets I learned came up through sports," Heiden says. "You can use those skill sets in other pursuits. I found that a lot of my success as a physician and my ability to get through medical school...is due to those characteristics I developed as an athlete—perseverance, overcoming obstacles, and staying focused even through long stretches when your not rewarded by accolades."

Heiden graduated from medical school in the 1990s and became an orthopedic surgeon with an emphasis in sports medicine. He has been a team physician for the NBA Sacramento Kings and the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs, as well as the U.S. Olympic team.