Parra's most successful season was from 2001 to 2002. At the
2002 Winter Olympics, he took the gold in the 1500 meters, an event in which he had been expected to do well but faced a deep pool of competition. Before that, he won the silver in the 5000 meters being bested by
Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands. He has worked part-time in
Home Depot's gardening department in
West Valley City, Utah. In his book,
Reflections in the Ice, Parra recounts pursuing his dream of becoming an inline skater at 17, working at
McDonald's in
Tampa, Florida, and being so poor he had to eat out of the trash. Parra was selected to take over as U.S. speed skating national all-around coach for the 2010 Olympics. He appears in a
Restore Our Future television ad endorsing Republican
Mitt Romney in the
2012 U.S. presidential election and spoke at the
2012 Republican National Convention. Parra became friends with Romney when he was president of the Salt Lake City Olympic organizing committee. == Records ==