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 racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

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 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

. Particularly frustrating were the 1992 Games, where he missed a bronze medal by 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 bet ...

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 wh ...

, another

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

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 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, 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 w ...

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

Jakko Jan Leeuwangh Jakko Jan Leeuwangh (born 9 September 1972) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands. He finished fourth in the 1998 Olympic 1000 m event. In January 2000 he broke the 1500 m world record in Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the ...

. Van Velde became the fourth sprinter to qualify for the games. In

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, 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 organizatio ...

finish. His time of 1:07.18 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 (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

, van Velde failed to qualify for the

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

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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. The city is main ...

. 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 for 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 Speed skaters from Gelderland 20th-century Dutch sportsmen