Mark Jan Hendrik Tuitert (; born 4 April 1980) is a retired Dutch

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. ...

. He won gold at the

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

Personal life

Tuitert married fellow Dutch speed skater Helen van Goozen in 2009. Ten years before, they both won gold medals at the

World Junior Speed Skating Championships In 1971, the ISU congress decided to hold a World Junior Speed Skating Championships. After two test-championships (1972 and 1973), where only a boys' competition was held in the 1972 edition, the first official championship was introduced in Co ...

Speed skating career

2006 Olympic Games in Turin

Tuitert participated in the team pursuit event at 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 ...

, with teammates Sven Kramer,

Carl Verheijen Carl Eduard Verheijen (born 26 May 1975) is a retired Dutch speed skater who specialized in the longer distances 5,000 m and the 10,000 m. Verheijen is the son of international speed skaters Rieneke Demming and Eddy Verheijen. He is in a relati ...

Erben Wennemars Egbert Rolf "Erben" Wennemars (born 1 November 1975) is a Dutch former speed skater. He specialized in the sprint and middle distances of 500, 1000 and 1500 meters, and set six world records during his career. Speed skating career Wennemars was ...

and

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 ...

. The Dutch team was a favourite and was leading Italy by nearly a full second in their semifinal matchup, but Sven Kramer stepped on a block and fell, taking

with him. In the race for bronze they defeated

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, giving Tuitert his first Olympic medal.

2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver

At the

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

he won the gold medal in the

. In the 17th pair against

Håvard Bøkko Håvard Bøkko (; born 2 February 1987) is a Norwegian former speed skater, and the premier skater from his country since 2008, with 32 national championships and thirteen international medals. He had junior results similar to those of Sven Krame ...

he set a new track record time (1:45.57), which had been in the hands of

Shani Davis Shani Earl Davis (; born August 13, 1982) is an American former speed skater. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first African American athlete to win a gold medal in an individual event at the Olympic Winter Games, w ...

(1:46.19). In the last heat, Davis failed by 0.13 seconds to improve on Tuitert's time and finished second. Until then, the only other Dutch Olympic gold medal winners in the 1500 meters speed skating were Kees Verkerk at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

and Ard Schenk at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Euro ...

2014 Olympic Games in Sochi

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Tuitert finished 10th in the

1000 m The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected b ...

and 5th in the

Other

Tuitert highest ranking on the adelskalender. was the 6th position between 30 December 2000 and 2 March 2001.

Life after skating

After his speed skating career Tuitert co-founded First Energy Gum, a company which produces caffeinated Energy Gum for athletes. Tuitert is also a pundit in speed skating for Dutch broadcaster NOS and an online fitness coach for FitChannel.com.

Records

World records

* ** Together with

and

Personal records

To put his personal records in perspective, the column ''Notes'' lists the official world records on the dates that Tuitert skated his personal records. Source
marktuitert.nl
Tuitert has a score of 149.198 points on the Adelskalender

Tournament overview

Source:

World Cup overview

Source:"ISU World Cup Results"
/ref> * NC = No classification * DSQ = Disqualified * DNF = Did not finish * DNQ = Did not qualify * * = 10000 meter

Medals won

References

External links

Official website Mark Tuitert
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuitert, Mark 1980 births Dutch male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands People from Holten Living people World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Overijssel