Why are the Dutch so dominant at Olympic speedskating?

The Netherlands has boasted the top Olympic speedskating team for decades. Here is why the Dutch have become so dominant in the sport.

At the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, the Netherlands cleaned up on the medal podium in speedskating. Dutch skaters won eight of the 12 possible gold medals and 23 of the 36 total medals awarded. It was a rout, and the medal haul accounted for all but one of the 24 total medals won by the Netherlands at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Katie Couric might have stuck her foot in her mouth during the Pyeongchang 2018 Opening Ceremony when she suggested skating Amsterdam’s canals was a form of commuting for the Dutch. Then again, this is a myth that has persisted for over 150 years, since the publication of Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates in 1865. Author Mary Mapes Dodge had never visited the Netherlands prior to publishing her novel. Dodge certainly did research Dutch culture of the mid-19th century, and speedskating was a popular pastime just as speed contests are in any sport.

Sure, the canals provide a fun diversion for skaters on the rare occasions that they do freeze over. Daily transportation, however, is not really their strong suit. But myths are hard to break, and thus this legend persists about the Dutch capital. Hans Brinker helped distort and transform the popular narrative about the Netherlands for a century and a half.

Canal skating beginnings

Speedskating has been a Dutch pastime for centuries. The Netherlands hosted the first unofficial world championship in 1889. But if you want to get to the kernel of truth behind the canal myth, you need to head one of two directions.

The first is south of Amsterdam in the province of South Holland. It is from here that most of the early Dutch Olympic medalists hailed. This was the predominant sphere of influence up until the 1990s, when the locus of speedskating power shifted northward. In large part this shift transpired thanks to the sport’s decentralization. Individual clubs took up the mantle for a single national program, and the diversification launched the Dutch to real dominance.

The current epicenter lies north-northeast of the capital city, up in the province of Friesland. As home to the Elfstedentocht, a 200-kilometer outdoor race that transpires sporadically whenever the Frisian canals freeze over, Friesland is the spiritual heartland of outdoor speedskating in the Netherlands. Over time the Elfstedentocht became an obsession for the Dutch, but it originated as a provincial event.

Since the first official Elfstedentocht in1909, it has also only been held 15 times. The canals have yet to freeze over enough for the race to be held in the 21st century. While the idea of the race holds a legendary place in Dutch speedskating, entire generations go without actually getting to compete in or witness the spectacle. But it helps to encourage the myth of the speedskating nation, where everyone straps on skates and takes to the canals.

International dominance

What this canal-skating legend also helps to mask is the fact that Dutch dominance in Olympic speedskating is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Netherlands has led the medal count in the event for the past five Winter Olympics dating back to 1998. Prior to that, however, there was only a short run in 1968 and 1972 when the Dutch topped the speedskating charts at the Olympics.

For a long time, Dutch speedskating did not project overwhelming dominance in international competition. The Netherlands sent no speedskaters to the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix. It wasn’t until after World War II that the Dutch claimed their first Olympic speedskating medals.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Wim van der Voort finished behind Norwegian star Hjalmar Andersen in the 1500 meters. Kees Broekman had to settle for silver behind Andersen at 5000 meters and 10000 meters. The Norwegian was the star of the Oslo Games on home ice, but the Netherlands did finally put its name on the Olympic radar.

It took 16 more years for Dutch skaters to finally reach the top step of the podium. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the Netherlands broke out with three gold medals. With nine total medals in Grenoble, the Dutch team finally finished atop the speedskating medal count.

Dutch speedskaters racked up nine more medals in Sapporo, including four gold medals. After taking silver in Grenoble at 1500 meters, Ard Schenk was the star of the 1972 Winter Olympics. Schenk swept the three gold medals in the 1500 meters, 5000 meters, and 10,000 meters.

Hailing from North Holland, Schenk hit the zenith of his career in Japan. He had finally overtaken friend and rival Kees Verkerk, but there would be no repeat in Innsbruck. The Netherlands faded back to the middle of the pack. The nadir came in 1984, when the Netherlands failed to win a single medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics.

They would not return to dominance again until the 1990s. It was a turnaround borne of a major change in strategy. For decades, a half-dozen speedskaters were bankrolled by the national federation. Putting all their eggs in one basket, the Netherlands faded from prominence due to a lack of depth.

Ice rinks and opportunities

Once the program was decentralized in the 1990s, the Netherlands saw their fortunes turn toward a new era of overwhelming dominance. By 1998, the decentralization of speedskating in the Netherlands was paying major dividends. In Nagano, Dutch skaters won 11 medals to lead the field. It is a position that they have not yet ceded in the 21st century.

In the entire world, there are only three dozen 400-meter regulation long-track venues in the world. Of those 36, eight are in the Netherlands. Thousands of junior skaters are steered toward the sport thanks to the ease of access. And there are currently eight professional clubs throughout the country helping provide opportunities beyond the junior ranks.

Canals help provide the mythic backstory of Dutch dominance, and the nation continues to dream of another opportunity to hold the Elfstedentocht. Every year the Netherlands longs for conditions to coalesce to the point where the canals will freeze to the required minimum of six inches to allow the race to commence.

It is a tradition that could be fading into obsolescence, though, as climate change threatens the low-lying nation and moderates the winter temperatures over time. Already one generation has matured and passed on the torch without ever getting the chance to compete on the canals. As time passes without another Elfstedentocht, it evolves from a beloved tradition into an enigma of the past.

But the Netherlands will continue to be a speedskating hub even if the canals never freeze over again. Thanks to the proliferation of clubs and ice rinks, Dutch skaters have staked a claim as the predominant country in speedskating that they are not likely to give up anytime soon.

Next: What’s the difference between speedskating and short track?

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