Barbara de Loor (born 26 May 1974) is a Dutch retired

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

who was specialised in the middle long and longer distances, over 1000 to 5000 meters. De Loor will be known in history as a talented skater who often ended up just after the awarded medal positions, which already started in her junior years when she became 6th and 4th at the World Junior Championships in 1992 and 1993 respectively. A few years later after she made the step to the seniors she qualified for the All-around World Championships and finished there in 9th position. That same year she reached two top-10 rankings at the World Single Distance Championships, while participating in three distances (8th over 3000 and 5000 meters, as well as 11th over 1500 meters). This was however also the year that she achieved her first international medal, by becoming third at the European All-around Championships, claiming the bronze. In 1998 she finished sixth at the same European All-around Championship, she also qualified for her first Olympics, the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, where she participated at the 1500 and 5000 meters. Her 22nd place at the 1500 meters was no success, however she surprised the world with her fourth position at the 5000 meters, finishing just outside the medals. The trend was set and in 1999 she became fourth over 3000 meters and fifth over 5000 meters at the World Single Distance Championships. She also finished fifth at the European All-around Championships and sixth at the World All-around Championships. In 2000, she would not come close to any of these efforts, but she returned at the highest level in 2001, reaching a fourth position at the European, and a fifth at the World All-around Championships. However the season was still disappointed as she failed to qualify for the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. De Loor qualified herself for the 2003 World Single Distance Championships on two distances. She became 8th over 5000 meters and 4th over 1500 meters, missing just out on a medal yet again. A year later at the same distance and the same championship she again became 4th, while she was 5th at the European All-around Championships. In 2005, she would become 4th at the 1500 during the World Single Distance Championships for the third consecutive time. It was however the year of her biggest achievement in her career as she became the World Champion over 1000 meters in the same event, finishing in front of

Anni Friesinger Anna ("Anni") Christine Friesinger-Postma (born 11 January 1977) is a German former speed skater. Her father Georg Friesinger, of Germany, and mother Janina ("Jana") Korowicka, of Poland, were both skaters; Jana was on the Polish team at the 197 ...

and

Marianne Timmer Maria Aaltje ("Marianne") Timmer (born 3 October 1974) is a Dutch former speed skater specializing in the middle distances (1000 and 1500 m). At the 1998 Winter Olympics Timmer won a gold medal in both these events. Speed skating career I ...

to claim the gold. In December 2005 she missed out on direct qualifying for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

, finishing behind some other contenders at the 1500 and 1000 meters. For the last distance she was however nominated by the Dutch Speed Skating Association due to her world title that year. She was awarded a skate-off with

Paulien van Deutekom Paulien van Deutekom (4 February 1981 – 2 January 2019) was a Dutch champion speed skater who specialised in the middle to long distances, over 1000 and 1500 metres. Biography In November 2005, Van Deutekom surprised when she skated among th ...

who finished 4th at the Dutch Single Distance Championship, where the qualifications were held. De Loor won the confrontation and was qualified for her second Olympics. In

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

at the Olympics she came close to a medal yet again, but this time she became 6th. After the Olympics she appeared at the

Speed Skating World Cup The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, a number of competitions on different ...

meeting in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

where she became fifth over 1500 meters. It was the last race of her career. In 2006 De Loor participated alongside professional dancer

Marcus van Teijlingen Marcus van Teijlingen (born 20 March 1973 in Rijnsburg) is a Dutch dance instructor and professional Latin-American dancer. His regular dance partner was Nathalie Kip. He has been working full-time as a dance instructor in Groningen since 2004. ...

in the Dutch version of

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

and won the competition. After that she appeared on several other television programs such as De Afvallers and De Afvallers met Sterren, as well as with a program named Nederlanders in Ontwikkeling.

Personal records

* 500 meters, 39.79, 15 January 2005 in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

* 1000 meters, 1:16.03, 10 March 2001 in

* 1500 meters, 1:55.83, 11 March 2001 in Salt Lake City * 3000 meters, 4:04.56, 9 March 2001 in Salt Lake City * 5000 meters, 7:07.49, 10 January 1999 in

External links

Barbera de Loor at SpeedSkatingStats.com

Barbera de Loor at SchaatsStatistieken.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loor, Barbara de 1974 births Dutch female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands Dancing with the Stars winners Sportspeople from Amsterdam Living people World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Dutch women 20th-century Dutch women