Gerard van Velde
speedskater, specializing in sprinting.
He 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. The 1992 Games were particularly frustrating, as he missed a bronze medal by only one-hundredth of a second.
During the 1990's, 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.
Another 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 Wemmemars, and Jacco-Jan Leeuwwangh. 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 with a time of 1'02"18. This time 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.
