Gerard van Velde

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. The 1992 Games were particularly frustrating, as he missed a bronze medal by only 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 with a time of 1:07.18. This time he 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.[1]

Season	Dutch Championships Single Distances	Dutch Championships Sprint	Olympic Games	World Championships Single Distances	World Championships Sprint	World Cup GWC
19891990	16th 500m 17e 1000m	10th 500m 10th 1000m 6th 500m 1000m 8th overall
1990–1991	500m 1000m 10 th1500m				INZELL 20th 500m 10th 1000m 16th 500m 17th 1000m 15th overall
1991–1992	500m 4th 1000m	500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall	ALBERTVILLE 5th 500m 4th 1000m		OSLO 9th 500m 16th 1000m 6th 500m 1000m 6th overall
1992–1993	500m 1000m	500m 5th 1000m 500m 4th 1000m overall			IKAHO 18th 500m 9th 1000m 15th 500m 8th 1000m 11th overall
1993–1994	500m 1000m 12th 1500m	500m 1000m 13th 500m 1000m 13th overall	LILLEHAMMAR 21st 500m 9th 1000m		CALGARY 15h 500m 5th 1000m 17th 500m 33rd 1000m 30th overall
1994–1995	500m 1000m	500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall			MILWAUKEE 17th 500m 4th 1000m 11th 500m 5th 1000m 10th overall
1995–1996	500m 1000m	500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall		HAMAR 10th 500m 4th 1000m	HEERENVEEN 36th 500m 4th 1000m 25th 500m 10th 1000m 33rd overall	13th 500m 1000m
1996–1997		500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall		WARSAW 18th 500m 6th 1000m	HAMAR 12th 500m 10th 1000m 13th 500m 8th 1000m 11th overall	15th 500m 6th 1000m
1997–1998	4th 500m 7th 1000m	7th 500m 7th 1000m 7th 500m 10th 1000m 6th overall		CALGARY NS2 500m		44th 500m 23rd 1000m
1998–1999
1999–2000	500m 5th 1000m	500m 4th 1000m 4th 500m 4th 1000m overall		NAGANO 19th 500m	SEOUL 22nd 500m 19th 1000m 20th 500m 23rd 1000m 21st overall	32nd 500m 37th 1000m
2000–2001	7th 500m 12th 1000m 19th 1500m	500m 5th 1000m 500m 4th 1000m overall		SALT LAKE CITY 11th 500m 5th 500m	INZELL 11th 500m 4th 1000m 9th 500m 5th 1000m 7th overall	19th 500m 14th 1000m
2001–2002	500m 1000m 7th 1500m	500m 1000m 500m 4th 1000m overall	SALT LAKE CITY 4th 500m 1000m		HAMAR 7th 500m 1000m 5th 500m 5th 1000m 4th overall	5th 500m 9th 1000m
2002–2003	500m 1000m 8th 1500m	500m 4th 1000m 500m DNF 1000m NC overall		BERLIN 4th 500m 1000m	CALGARY 500m 4th 1000m 500m 4th 1000m overall	4th 500m 1000m
2003–2004	500m 1000m	500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall		SEOUL 8th 500m NF 1000m	NAGANO 7th 500m 6th 1000m 500m 1000m 4th overall	27th 100m 7th 500m 1000m
2004–2005	500m 6th 1000m 14th 1500m	500m 4th 1000m 500m 1000m overall		INZELL 10th 500m	SALT LAKE CITY 500m DNS 1000m DNS 500m DNS 1000m NC overall	11th 500m 1000m
2005–2006	5th 500m 6th 1000m	500m 1000m 500m 5th 1000m overall			HEERENVEEN 9th 500m 10th 1000m 9th 500m 11th 1000m 6th overall	9th 500m 7th 1000m
2006–2007	4th 500m 9th 1000m	4th 500m 6th 1000m 500m 6th 1000m 4th overall			HAMAR 15h 500m 14th 1000m DNS 500m DNS 1000m NC overall	15th 500m
2007–2008		8th 500m 13th 1000m 12th 500m 11th 1000m 10th overall
20082009		5th 500m 4th 1000m 6th 500m 4th 1000m 6th overall

Source:[4]

DQ = Disqualified

DNF = Did not finish

DNS = Did not start

NC = No classification

• Gerard van Velde at the International Skating Union
• Gerard van Velde at SpeedSkatingStats.com
• Gerard van Velde at the International Olympic Committee
• Gerard van Velde at the Olympic Channel
• Photos of Gerard van Velde at the Wayback Machine (archived March 10, 2007)

Awards
Preceded by Gianni Romme	Ard Schenk Award 2001	Succeeded by Jochem Uytdehaage Andrea Nuyt