Adrianus "Ard" Schenk 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.
Speed skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, was held from 5 to 14 February. Nine events were contested at Eisschnelllaufbahn Innsbruck. This was the first Olympics which included the men's 1000 metres, and the first change to the men's program at the Olympics since the elimination of the all-round event in 1928.
Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst 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.
Christine Nesbitt is a Canadian retired long track speed skater who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She had previously won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She is also the 2011 sprint champion, 2012 1500 metres world champion, three-time world champion for 1000 metres, and three-time world champion for team pursuit. On 4 June 2015 she announced her retirement.
Denny Morrison is a Canadian speedskater from Fort St. John, British Columbia. He is an Olympic champion as a member of Canada's men's team pursuit, an event which he also won silver in at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Morrison won his first individual Olympic medal in Sochi when he won a silver in the men's 1000 m after teammate Gilmore Junio selflessly gave up his spot in order for Morrison, who fell at the national qualification event, failed to originally qualify. He won a second individual medal at those games, a bronze in the 1500 m. With four total Olympic medals, Morrison shares the record for the most medals of any Canadian male long track speed skaters along with Gaétan Boucher.
Karin Voss is a former speed skater, one of the most dominant of the 1980s. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist, winning the 500 metres in 1980, the 1000 metres in 1984 and the 1500 metres in 1984. She won a total of eight Olympic medals, representing East Germany.
Annette Albertine Gerritsen is a Dutch former speed skater. She specialised in the 500 m and 1000 m distances, and won a silver medal in the 1000 metres at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She is the current Dutch junior record holder in the 500 m (38.57) and her personal best (1.16.14) used to be the world junior record. She also holds the world junior record with her Dutch teammates in the team pursuit (3.12.37).
The Dutch Single Distance Championships of speed skating, organised by the KNSB, is the official Dutch championship to determine the Dutch champion over a single distance, in contrast to the KNSB Dutch Allround Championships, which determine the Dutch allround champion. The single distance championships date back to 1987, and is often used as qualification races for World Cup and Olympic races. The skaters compete for medals in the five Olympic distances: 500, 1000, 1500, 3000, 5000 and 10,000 metres.
Lee Kyou-hyuk is a South Korean retired long track speed skater who specializes in the 500 and 1,000 meters. He was the 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 World Sprint Speed Skating Champion and the 2011 World Champion for 500 m. He is one of four men to have won the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships four times.
Stefan Groothuis is a Dutch retired speed skater. He is the World Sprint Champion for 2012 and the gold medal winner in the 1000 metres at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Paulien van Deutekom was a Dutch champion speed skater who specialised in the middle to long distances, over 1000 and 1500 metres.
Niels Kerstholt is a retired dutch Short track speed skater.
Liesbeth Mau Asam is a Dutch Short track speed skater who lives in Woubrugge and who has a relationship with Cees Juffermans.
Marrit Leenstra is a Dutch former long track speed skater.
Trevor Marsicano is an American speed skater and silver medalist in the Winter Olympics.
Zuidplas is a municipality in the Netherlands located in the province of South Holland. It was established on 1 January 2010 by the joining of Moordrecht, Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, and Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle. It had a population of 41,753 as of August 2017.
Heather Bergsma is an American former speed skater who competed between 2006 and 2020.
Kjeld Nuis is a Dutch speed skater.
Brittany Starr Bowe is an American speed skater and former inline skater and basketball player. She has won eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals from the world inline speedskating championships. From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals. She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games.
