Bart Veldkamp (; born 22 November 1967) is a 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 represented the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and later

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in international competitions, including the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. He currently is the national speed skating coach of Belgium.

Speed skating

In 1990, Bart Veldkamp won the European Allround Championships and came very close to repeating that feat 11 years later in 2001, finishing 2nd. At the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

, he won a gold medal on the 10,000 m. Mainly due to this achievement, Veldkamp was named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 1992. Before the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

, he was dissatisfied with the qualifying procedures for tournaments and became a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

. In Belgium there was (and still is) no speed skating tradition, so qualifying for tournaments became simple because there were no other speed skaters to compete with. In

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

at the

, Veldkamp won a bronze medal on the 10,000 m for the Netherlands. The next Olympic medal he won was as a Belgian at 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 ...

on the 5,000 m, in which he became the first skater ever to break the 6:30 barrier on that distance, but his time was beaten later that same day by former compatriots

Rintje Ritsma Robert Rintje Ritsma (born 13 April 1970) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. His nickname is the ''Beer van Lemmer'', which translates to the Bear from Lemmer, analogous to Igor Zhelezovski's nickname "The Bear from Minsk", both of which ...

and

Gianni Romme Gianni Petrus Cornelis Romme (born 12 February 1973) is a Dutch marathoner and a former long track speed skater. He won two gold medals at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and was the World all-round champion in 2000 and 2003. Romme has been a ...

. His bronze medal was the first ever Olympic medal in speed skating for Belgium. In 1997, Veldkamp participated in the

Elfstedentocht The ''Elfstedentocht'' (; West Frisian: ''Alvestêdetocht'' , English: ''Eleven cities tour'') is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a lei ...

. In 2003, he announced that 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 ...

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 ...

would be his third Winter Olympics as a Belgian, his fifth overall, and definitely his last. At these

, Veldkamp finished 13th on the 5,000 m and 14th on the 10,000 m and ended his career afterwards.

Commentary and coaching

After his career Veldkamp became a sports commentator for the NOS to analyze speed skating races. He also appeared on several other TV shows such as

Peking Express ''Peking Express'' is a Dutch–Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike to or from Beijing (only in the first three seasons; seasons four and five are set in South America). The series has already gone throug ...

and Wildebeesten. In the 2006/2007 winter season Veldkamp trained four Kenyan athletes, for the first time ever on ice, for a Dutch TV show. The goal was to let them skate the 200 km long alternative Elfstedentocht at the Weissensee in Austria. He currently is the national speed skating coach of Belgium.

Records

Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com By 12 January 2014, Veldkamp was placed 107th with a score of 152.621 points on the Adelskalender, the ranking list for all-time personal bests. His highest ranking ever on the Adelskalender was a 5th place.

World records

Veldkamp skated one

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Tournament overview

Source: :''NC = No classification'' :''DNQ = Did not qualify''

Medals won

Medals

An overview of medals won by Veldkamp at important championships, listing the years in which he won each medal:

References

DESGBart Veldkamp at SpeedSkatingStats.comPersonal records from ''The Skatebase''

External links

Bart Veldkamp
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Veldkamp, Bart 1967 births Living people Dutch male speed skaters Belgian male speed skaters Dutch speed skating coaches Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands Olympic speed skaters of Belgium Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for Belgium Speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists World record setters in speed skating Sportspeople from The Hague