Pieter "Piet" Kleine (born 17 September 1951) is a former

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. ...

from 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 ...

who specialized in the longer distances.

Short biography

At the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, Piet Kleine became Olympic Champion on the 10,000 m, beating world record holder Sten Stensen – who won silver – in a close race. This was a reversal of the roles in the Olympic 5,000 m (which had been held three days earlier), in which Stensen had won gold and Kleine silver. In both the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m, Dutch – later French – speed skater

Hans van Helden Hans van Helden (born 27 April 1948) is a former speed skater, originally competing for the Netherlands, later for France. Life and career Despite being a very talented speed skater and having an excellent skating style and technique, Van Hel ...

(then world record holder on the 5,000 m) won bronze. Later that same year (1976), Kleine broke 4 worlds records (including Van Helden's 5,000 m world record) and also became World Allround Champion. Kleine participated again in 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 ...

of Lake Placid (1980), winning Olympic silver on the 10,000 m behind

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at th ...

. He ended his career as a speed skater in 1981 and started a successful career in amateur

bicycle racing Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling s ...

. In 1985, as a member of the Dutch national team, he finished 5th at the World Championships on the 100 km

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ( ...

. In 1986, Kleine became a marathon skater. This led to some controversy in 1997 when he finished 5th 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 ...

, but was subsequently removed from the final list of results because of a missing stamp on his stamp card. The controversy lay in the fact that, afterwards, it became clear that in the past several winners of the Elfstedentocht had missed stamps too, but were still declared the winners. Kleine ended his skating career in 2001 and continued his profession as a

postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

, a profession he had always kept alongside his sports careers. In his free time, Kleine is the leader of a team of marathon skaters. He later coached

Dan Jansen Daniel Erwin Jansen (born June 17, 1965) is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which ...

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Kleine skated 4

world records 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

Personal records

Kleine has an Adelskalender score of 164.899 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was 2nd place.

Tournament overview

source:

Medals won

Medals

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

References

External links

Piet Kleine at speedskatinghalloffame.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleine, Piet 1951 births Living people People from Hoogeveen Dutch male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in speed skating World record setters in speed skating Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Drenthe