The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the XI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sapporo 1972, were a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe and North America.
Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, short-track speedskating, inline speedskating, and quad speed skating are also called speed skating.
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.
Mark Jan Hendrik Tuitert is a retired Dutch speed skater. He won gold at the 1500 m at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Tatyana Borisovna Averina was a Soviet Russian speed skater. After getting married, her name also appeared as Tatyana Barabash.
Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz is a retired American speed skater and track cyclist. She won three world titles in each of these sports, twice in the same year. In 1976, she also became the first American athlete to win three medals at one Winter Olympics.
Anne Elizabeth Henning is an American retired speed skater. She grew up in Northbrook, Illinois, and started in short track speed skating, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after her, switched to long track speed skating. In 1971, 15-year-old Henning won silver at the ISU Sprint Championships, the forerunner of the World Sprint Championships. During those championships, she set new world records in both her 500 m races.
Erhard Keller is a former speed skater from Germany.
Cornelis Jan Bazen is a former speed skater from the Netherlands. He dominated the national sprint championships in the early 1970s, winning them in 1970–1972, finishing second in 1973–1974 and third in 1975–1976. He competed at the 1976 Winter Olympics in the 500 m and finished in 6th place.
Leo Ensio Linkovesi was a Finnish speedskater who specialised on the shorter distances, the 500 m and the 1000 m.
Per Willy Guttormsen is a former Norwegian speed skater and cyclist. He was among the world's best long distance skaters in the 1960s.
Yvonne Hijgenaar is a Dutch racing cyclist and former national speed skater.
Monika Pflug, also known as Monika Holzner-Pflug and Monika Gawenus-Pflug, is a German former speed skater. She was born in Munich and competed for West Germany.
Keiichi Suzuki is a retired Japanese speed skater. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics in the 500 m and 1500 m events with the best result of fifth place in the 500 m in 1964. He set two world records in the 500 m event in 1969–70.
The 2009 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held at the indoor ice rink of the Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar (Norway) on 7 and 8 February 2009.
Willy Olsen is a retired Norwegian speed skater from Tynset who competed internationally in the 1970s. His strength was on the long distances, and he won the 5000 metres' distance at the national championship in 1972. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo he finished 5th in the 5000 metres.
Sachiko Saito was a Japanese speed skater. She competed at the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics in the 500, 1000 and 1500 m events with the best achievement of ninth place in the 500 m in 1972. She badly fell on the same distance in 1968.
The Netherlands competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The Dutch team was the largest Dutch delegation at a Winter Olympics, with 41 competitors that participated in bobsleigh, short track speed skating, snowboarding, and speed skating.
Will [wil] or Wil is a given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of William, Wilfred, Wilbur, Wilhelmina, Wilma, Willard or Willeke.
The men's 500 meter at the 2022 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships took place in Heerenveen at the Thialf ice skating rink on Friday 29 October 2021. Although the tournament was held in 2021 it was the 2022 edition as it was part of the 2021–2022 speed skating season. There were 24 participants who raced twice over 500m so that all skaters had to start once in the inner lane and once in the outer lane. The first 4 skaters plus Merijn Scheperkamp were eligible for the following World Cup tournaments.
