Gerard van Velde

In this article, the surname is Van Velde.

Gerard Pieter Hendrik van Velde (born 30 November 1971) is a Dutch retired speed skater 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 or 1994 Winter Olympics. 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 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, another Dutch 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, in spite of the arrival of a new generation of Dutch sprinters such as Jan Bos, Erben Wennemars and Jakko Jan Leeuwangh. Van Velde became the fourth sprinter to qualify for the games.

In Salt Lake City, he started before all the other favorites and raced to a world record 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, van Velde failed to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. In retirement he became a coach.

Records

Personal records

Template:PersonalRecordsTop Template:PersonalRecordsSport Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsBottom Source: SpeedskatingResults.com

World records

Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
1000 m	1:07.18	16 February 2002	Salt Lake City	World record until 20 November 2005

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Tournament overview

Season	Dutch Championships Single Distances	Dutch Championships Sprint	Olympic Games	World Championships Single Distances	World Championships Sprint	World Cup GWC
1989–90	HEERENVEEN 16th 500m 17e 1000m	ASSEN 10th 500m 10th 1000m 6th 500m Template:Bronze3 1000m 8th overall
1990–91	THE HAGUE Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m 10 th1500m				INZELL 20th 500m 10th 1000m 16th 500m 17th 1000m 15th overall
1991–92	HEERENVEEN Template:Gold1 500m 4th 1000m	HEERENVEEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 overall	ALBERTVILLE 5th 500m 4th 1000m		OSLO 9th 500m 16th 1000m 6th 500m Template:Bronze31000m 6th overall
1992–93	DEVENTER Template:Gold1 500m Template:Bronze3 1000m	UTRECHT Template:Gold1 500m 5th 1000m Template:Gold1 500m 4th 1000m Template:Gold1 overall			IKAHO 18th 500m 9th 1000m 15th 500m 8th 1000m 11th overall
1993–94	HEERENVEEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m 12th 1500m	THE HAGUE Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m 13th 500m Template:Gold1 1000m 13th overall	LILLEHAMMAR 21st 500m 9th 1000m		CALGARY 15h 500m 5th 1000m 17th 500m 33rd 1000m 30th overall
1994–95	THE HAGUE Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m	ALKMAAR Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 overall			MILWAUKEE 17th 500m 4th 1000m 11th 500m 5th 1000m 10th overall
1995–96	GRONINGEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m	ASSEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Gold1 1000m Template:Gold1 overall		HAMAR 10th 500m 4th 1000m	HEERENVEEN 36th 500m 4th 1000m 25th 500m 10th 1000m 33rd overall	13th 500m Template:Bronze3 1000m
1996–97		GRONINGEN Template:Silver2 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Silver2 overall		WARSAW 18th 500m 6th 1000m	HAMAR 12th 500m 10th 1000m 13th 500m 8th 1000m 11th overall	15th 500m 6th 1000m
1997–98	HEERENVEEN 4th 500m 7th 1000m	GRONINGEN 7th 500m 7th 1000m 7th 500m 10th 1000m 6th overall		CALGARY NS2 500m		44th 500m 23rd 1000m
1998–99
1999–2000	DEVENTER Template:Bronze3 500m 5th 1000m	UTRECHT Template:Bronze3 500m 4th 1000m 4th 500m 4th 1000m Template:Bronze3 overall		NAGANO 19th 500m	SEOUL 22nd 500m 19th 1000m 20th 500m 23rd 1000m 21st overall	32nd 500m 37th 1000m
2000–01	THE HAGUE 7th 500m 12th 1000m 19th 1500m	HEERENVEEN Template:Silver2 500m 5th 1000m Template:Silver2 500m 4th 1000m Template:Silver2 overall		SALT LAKE CITY 11th 500m 5th 500m	INZELL 11th 500m 4th 1000m 9th 500m 5th 1000m 7th overall	19th 500m 14th 1000m
2001–02	HEERENVEEN Template:Bronze3 500m Template:Silver2 1000m 7th 1500m	GRONINGEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Silver2 500m 4th 1000m Template:Gold1 overall	SALT LAKE CITY 4th 500m Template:Gold1 1000m		HAMAR 7th 500m Template:Silver2 1000m 5th 500m 5th 1000m 4th overall	5th 500m 9th 1000m
2002–03	UTRECHT Template:Silver2 500m Template:Silver2 1000m 8th 1500m	GRONINGEN Template:Silver2 500m 4th 1000m Template:Silver2 500m DNF 1000m NC overall		BERLIN 4th 500m Template:Silver2 1000m	CALGARY Template:Bronze3 500m 4th 1000m Template:Silver2 500m 4th 1000m Template:Silver2 overall	4th 500m Template:Silver2 1000m
2003–04	HEERENVEEN Template:Gold1 500m Template:Silver2 1000m	UTRECHT Template:Gold1 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Silver2 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Silver2 overall		SEOUL 8th 500m NF 1000m	NAGANO 7th 500m 6th 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Silver2 1000m 4th overall	27th 100m 7th 500m Template:Silver2 1000m
2004–05	ASSEN Template:Gold1 500m 6th 1000m 14th 1500m	GRONINGEN Template:Gold1 500m 4th 1000m Template:Gold1 500m Template:Bronze3 1000m Template:Gold1 overall		INZELL 10th 500m	SALT LAKE CITY Template:Gold1 500m DNS 1000m DNS 500m DNS 1000m NC overall	11th 500m Template:Bronze3 1000m
2005–06	HEERENVEEN 5th 500m 6th 1000m	ASSEN Template:Silver2 500m Template:Silver2 1000m Template:Silver2 500m 5th 1000m Template:Silver2 overall			HEERENVEEN 9th 500m 10th 1000m 9th 500m 11th 1000m 6th overall	9th 500m 7th 1000m
2006–07	ASSEN 4th 500m 9th 1000m	GRONINGEN 4th 500m 6th 1000m Template:Silver2 500m 6th 1000m 4th overall			HAMAR 15h 500m 14th 1000m DNS 500m DNS 1000m NC overall	15th 500m
2007–08		HEERENVEEN 8th 500m 13th 1000m 12th 500m 11th 1000m 10th overall
2008–09		GRONINGEN 5th 500m 4th 1000m 6th 500m 4th 1000m 6th overall

Source:

DQ = Disqualified

DNF = Did not finish

DNS = Did not start

NC = No classification

Medals won

Championship	Gold Template:Gold1	Silver Template:Silver2	Bronze Template:Bronze3
Dutch Single Distances	12	5	3
Dutch Sprint	6	4	1
Olympic Games	1	0	0
World Single Distances	0	1	0
World Sprint	0	1	0

External links

• Template:ISU speed skater
• PB's Gerard van Velde Archived 2021-01-10 at the Wayback Machine at SpeedskatingBase.eu with link to results International Championships
• Gerard van Velde at SpeedSkatingStats.com
• Template:Olympics.com
• Template:Nocnsf.nl
• Photos of Gerard van Velde at the Wayback Machine (archived March 10, 2007)