Grietje "Greta" Smit (born 20 January 1976) is a Dutch former
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 ...
.
Smit won a surprising silver medal in 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 the 5000 metre event. She skated a world record broken in a later pair by Claudia Pechstein. Prior to that season, she had not competed in long track speed skating competitions for several years, and had only taken up practice again shortly before the Dutch trials in late 2001.
However, she had been a very successful marathon skater in the years before 2002. She had become Dutch marathon skating champion on natural ice in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001, and on artificial ice in 1999, 2000 and 2001. During the last held
Elfstedentocht
The ''Elfstedentocht'' (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: ''Alvestêdetocht'' , English language, English: ''Eleven cities tour'') is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost long, which is held both as a speed skating com ...
in 1997 she finished second. She also won the alternative Elfstedentocht - skated in
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
- in 1998, 2000 and 2001.
Smit's two sisters, Jenita and Marianne, were also good (marathon) skaters; Jenita also took up long track skating in the 2002/2003 season.