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The Most Famous

SKATERS from Netherlands

This page contains a list of the greatest Dutch Skaters. The pantheon dataset contains 315 Skaters, 47 of which were born in Netherlands. This makes Netherlands the birth place of the 3rd most number of Skaters behind Russia and United States.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Dutch Skaters of all time. This list of famous Dutch Skaters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Dutch Skaters.

1. Ard Schenk (1944 - )

With an HPI of 53.64, Ard Schenk is the most famous Dutch Skater. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.

Adrianus "Ard" Schenk (born 16 September 1944) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands, who is considered to be one of the best in history. His first Olympic success came in 1968, when he won a silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics. Between 1970 and 1972 Winter Olympics, Schenk won three consecutive World Allround Speed Skating Championships. He won three gold medals at the 1972 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Galina Kulakova of Soviet Union, the most successful athlete there.

2. Sjoukje Dijkstra (1942 - )

With an HPI of 51.94, Sjoukje Dijkstra is the 2nd most famous Dutch Skater. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Sjoukje Rosalinde Dijkstra (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌʃʌukjə ˈdɛikstra], born 28 January 1942) is a Dutch former competitive figure skater. She is the 1964 Olympic champion in ladies' singles, the 1960 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (1962–1964), five-time European champion (1960–1964), and the six-time Dutch national champion (1959–1964).

3. Kees Verkerk (1942 - )

With an HPI of 46.90, Kees Verkerk is the 3rd most famous Dutch Skater. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Cornelis Arie "Kees" Verkerk (born 28 October 1942) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands.

4. Ireen Wüst (1986 - )

With an HPI of 45.65, Ireen Wüst is the 4th most famous Dutch Skater. Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst (Dutch pronunciation: [iˈreːn ʋyst]; born 1 April 1986) is a Dutch former long track speed skater of German ancestry. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances. Wüst is also the only athlete to win an individual gold medal in five consecutive Olympics, Summer or Winter. Wüst is both the youngest Dutch Olympic gold medalist and the oldest speed skating gold medalist in the history of the Winter Games. At the age of nineteen, on 12 February 2006, she won the gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games 3000 metre event; four years later at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games she won the 1500 metre event; at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games she won two gold and three silver medals, making her the most decorated athlete at the Sochi Games. Following her record sixth speed skating gold medal in the 1500 metres and bronze in the team pursuit event at the 2022 Winter Olympics she has won a record thirteen Olympic medals, more than any other speed skater, making her the most successful athlete of the Netherlands at the Olympics. She is also a seven-time world allround champion, a fifteen-time world single distance champion, and a five-time European allround champion. In 2014, she was elected by Reuters as the Sportswoman of the World.

5. Wim van der Voort (1923 - 2016)

With an HPI of 45.20, Wim van der Voort is the 5th most famous Dutch Skater. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Willem "Wim" van der Voort (24 March 1923 – 23 October 2016) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Van der Voort was the silver medalist in the men's 1500 meters, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Hjalmar Andersen of Norway. He received a bronze medal at the 1953 World Allround Championships, and silver medals at the 1951 and 1953 European Championships.

6. Stien Kaiser (1938 - 2022)

With an HPI of 43.70, Stien Kaiser is the 6th most famous Dutch Skater. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Christina ("Stien") Wilhelmina Baas-Kaiser (20 May 1938 – 23 June 2022) was a Dutch speed skater.

7. Sven Kramer (1986 - )

With an HPI of 42.61, Sven Kramer is the 7th most famous Dutch Skater. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Sven Kramer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌsfɛn ˈkraːmər]; born 23 April 1986) is a retired Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 meters at the Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, and won a record 21 gold medals at the World Single Distance Championships; eight in the 5000 meters, five in the 10,000 meters, and eight in the team pursuit. Kramer used to be the world record holder in the team pursuit (alongside Douwe de Vries and Marcel Bosker) and broke the world records in the 5000 meter and 10,000 meter events three times. By winning the 2010 World Allround Championship, Kramer became the first speed skater in history to win four consecutive world allround championships and eight consecutive international all round championships. He was undefeated in the 18 international allround championships he participated in from the 2006/2007 season until the 2016/2017 season. From November 2007 to March 2009, he was ranked first in the Adelskalender, but despite his dominance as an all-round skater he has since been overtaken on that list by Shani Davis and, more recently, by his teammate Patrick Roest. On 27 March 2020, it was announced that Kramer extended his contract with the Jumbo-Visma speed skating team until the 2022 Winter Olympics. On 28 October 2021 it was announced that Sven was going to retire in 2022.

8. Kees Broekman (1927 - 1992)

With an HPI of 40.83, Kees Broekman is the 8th most famous Dutch Skater. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Cornelis "Kees" Broekman (2 July 1927 – 8 November 1992) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Broekman was silver medalist on both the 5000 meter and the 10000 meter, the first ever Winter Olympic medals for the Netherlands. He won a silver medal at the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men 1949, and became European champion 1953. In the 1950s Broekman moved to Norway, where he competed until the 1960 Summer Olympics. After the Games he retired to become a speed skating coach, bringing Atje Keulen-Deelstra and Göran Claeson to world titles. He later coached speed skating in Berlin, where he died at age 65. He was an uncle of the Olympic speed skater Stien Kaiser.

9. Carry Geijssen (1947 - )

With an HPI of 39.04, Carry Geijssen is the 9th most famous Dutch Skater. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Carolina ("Carry") Cornelia Catharina Geijssen (born 11 January 1947) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands. Carry Geijssen won silver at the Dutch Allround Championships in 1965 (a feat she would repeat in 1967 and 1968). In 1966, she became Dutch Allround Champion. At the 1968 World Allround Championships in Helsinki, she won bronze behind Stien Kaiser and Ans Schut, making the podium entirely Dutch. Geijssen then participated in the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, where she became Olympic Champion on the 1,000 m in a new Olympic record time. This made her the first Dutch Olympic Champion in speed skating in Olympic history. The next day, Ans Schut (on the 3,000 m) would become the second, while Kees Verkerk (on the 1,500 m) would become the third Dutch Olympic Champion in speed skating four days after that. Geijssen went on to win Olympic silver on the 1,500 m, just 0.3 seconds behind winner Kaija Mustonen. After that, Geijssen remained active for several more years, but did not have any more major results. She ended her speed skating career in 1971. She married the cyclist Rien Langkruis, and later lived in Indonesia and Canada. She is the younger sister of speed skater Bep Geijssen.

10. Petra Burka (1946 - )

With an HPI of 39.03, Petra Burka is the 10th most famous Dutch Skater. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Petra Burka (; born November 17, 1946) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater and now coach. She won the 1964 Olympic bronze medal in women's figure skating and the 1965 World championship in the sport.

People

Pantheon has 47 people classified as skaters born between 1923 and 1997. Of these 47, 42 (89.36%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living skaters include Ard Schenk, Sjoukje Dijkstra, and Kees Verkerk. The most famous deceased skaters include Wim van der Voort, Stien Kaiser, and Kees Broekman. As of April 2022, 11 new skaters have been added to Pantheon including Wim van der Voort, Kees Broekman, and Carry Geijssen.