Gerard Pieter Hendrik van Velde (born 30 November 1971) 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 skatin ...

who specialised in sprinting. He won an Olympic gold medal in 2002.

Biography

Van Velde was considered the best Dutch sprinter during the early 1990s, but did not manage to win a medal in either the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

or 1994 Winter Olympics. The 1992 Games were particularly frustrating, as he missed a bronze medal by only one-hundredth of a second. During the late 1990s, clap skates became standard in

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

competition. Van Velde had such difficulty adjusting to the techniques required with these new skates that he retired from skating and became a car salesman. However, he was not finished with the skating world.

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 whi ...

, another

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

skater invited Van Velde to be his training partner, and, during training, he mastered the clap skate techniques. He decided to try out 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 dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...

, in spite of the arrival of a new generation of Dutch sprinters such as

Jan Bos Jan Bos (born 29 March 1975) is a Dutch former speedskater and sprint cyclist. In the late 1990s he was world champion in speed skating and he competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. Speed skater In 1998 Bos both became the wo ...

, Erben Wennemars and Jakko Jan Leeuwangh. Van Velde became the fourth sprinter to qualify for the games. In

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, he started before all the other favorites and raced to a

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 organizati ...

finish with a time of 1:07.18. This time he shaved more than half a second from the previous best world time, and more than a second from his personal best. The skaters who followed were unable to best him, and he won the gold medal. In December 2005, at the Dutch Olympic trials 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). ...

, van Velde failed to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in

Turin Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

. In retirement he became a coach.

Records

Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com

World records

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Tournament overview

Source: :''DQ = Disqualified'' :''DNF = Did not finish'' :''DNS = Did not start'' :''NC = No classification''

Medals won

References

External links

*
PB's Gerard van Velde
at SpeedskatingBase.eu with link to results International Championships
Gerard van Velde
at SpeedSkatingStats.com * * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velde, Gerard van 1971 births Living people People from Heerde Dutch male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in speed skating World record setters in speed skating Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Dutch speed skating coaches Dutch sports coaches Sportspeople from Gelderland