Gerard 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.<ref name=sports-reference/>

Records

Personal records

Template:PersonalRecordsTop Template:PersonalRecordsSport Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsMiddle Template:PersonalRecordsBottom Source: SpeedskatingResults.com<ref name=Results>Template:Cite web</ref>

World records

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

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com<ref name=stats>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tournament overview

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

Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 at SpeedskatingBase.eu with link to results International Championships
• Gerard van Velde at SpeedSkatingStats.com
• Template:Olympics.com profile
• Template:Nocnsf.nl
• Template:Webarchive