Bart Veldkamp

Bart Veldkamp (; born 22 November 1967) is a retired speed skater, who represented the Netherlands and later Belgium in international competitions, including the Winter Olympics. He currently is the national speed skating coach of Belgium.

Speed skating In 1990, Bart Veldkamp won the European Allround Championships and came very close to repeating that feat 11 years later in 2001, finishing 2nd. At the 1992 Winter Olympics, he won a gold medal on the 10,000 m. Mainly due to this achievement, Veldkamp was named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 1992. Before the 1994 Winter Olympics, he was dissatisfied with the qualifying procedures for tournaments and became a Belgian. In Belgium there was (and still is) no speed skating tradition, so qualifying for tournaments became simple because there were no other speed skaters to compete with.

In Lillehammer at the 1994 Winter Olympics, Veldkamp won a bronze medal on the 10,000 m for the Netherlands. The next Olympic medal he won was as a Belgian at the 1998 Winter Olympics on the 5,000 m, in which he became the first skater ever to break the 6:30 barrier on that distance, but his time was beaten later that same day by former compatriots Rintje Ritsma and Gianni Romme. His bronze medal was the first ever Olympic medal in speed skating for Belgium.

In 1997, Veldkamp participated in the Elfstedentocht. In 2003, he announced that the 2006 Winter Olympics at Turin would be his third Winter Olympics as a Belgian, his fifth overall, and definitely his last. At these 2006 Winter Olympics, Veldkamp finished 13th on the 5,000 m and 14th on the 10,000 m and ended his career afterwards.

Commentary and coaching After his career Veldkamp became a sports commentator for the NOS to analyze speed skating races. He also appeared on several other TV shows such as Peking Express and Wildebeesten.

In the 2006/2007 winter season Veldkamp trained four Kenyan athletes, for the first time ever on ice, for a Dutch TV show. The goal was to let them skate the 200 km long alternative Elfstedentocht at the Weissensee in Austria.

He currently is the national speed skating coach of Belgium.

Records Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com

By 12 January 2014, Veldkamp was placed 107th with a score of 152.621 points on the Adelskalender, the ranking list for all-time personal bests. His highest ranking ever on the Adelskalender was a 5th place.

World records Veldkamp skated one world record:

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Tournament overview Season Dutch Championships Single Distances Dutch Championships Allround European Championships Allround Olympic Games World Championships Single Distances World Championships Allround 1986–87 19th 10000m 1987–88 5000m 4th 10000m 1988–89 24th 500m 11th 1500m 4th 5000m 4th 10000m 11th 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 30th 500m 5000m 19th 1500m 5th 10000m 10th overall 1989–90 23rd 500m 24th 1500m 5000m 10000m 18th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m 6th overall 15th 500m 5000m 8th 1500m 10000m overall 22nd 500m 5000m 6th 1500m 10000m overall 1990–91 1500m 5000m 10000m 11th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 14th 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 23rd 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 10000m overall 1991–92 7th 1500m 5000m 10000m 9th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 12th 500m 5000m 6th 1500m 5th 10000m 5th overall 5th 1500m 5th 5000m 10000m 15th 500m 32nd 5000m 32nd 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(29th) 1992–93 NC 500m 8th 1500m 5000m 10000m 12th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 14th 500m 5000m 12th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 18th 500m 5000m 9th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 1993–94 13th 1500m 5000m 4th 10000m 7th 500m 5000m 7th 1500m 10000m overall 5th 5000m 10000m 14th 500m 9th 5000m 14th 1500m 5th 10000m 8th overall 1994–95 DNF 10000m 7th 1500m 6th 5000m 9th 500m 5000m 6th 1500m 10000m overall 1995–96 15th 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 4th 5000m 10000m 24th 500m 5000m 18th 1500m 4th 10000m 9th overall 1996–97 24th 500m 15th 5000m 16th 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(18th) 4th 5000m 4th 10000m 26th 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 10000m 6th overall 1997–98 16th 500m 5000m 9th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 17th 1500m 5000m 4th 10000m 18th 1500m 5000m 5th 10000m 27th 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 1998–99 14th 500m 5000m 13th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 5000m 5th 10000m 20th 500m 7th 5000m 18th 1500m 10000m 5th overall 1999–2000 8th 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 5th 10000m 5th overall 6th 5000m 5th 10000m 19th 500m 5000m 7th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 2000–01 22nd 500m 5000m 6th 1500m 10000m overall 18th 5000m 8th 10000m 20th 500m 5000m 12th 1500m 10000m overall 2001–02 25th 500m 5000m 25th 1500m 6th 10000m 13th overall 8th 5000m 9th 10000m 22nd 500m 4th 5000m 19th 1500m 4th 10000m 9th overall 2002–03 24th 500m 9th 5000m 21st 1500m 4th 10000m 14th overall 18th 5000m 10th 10000m 2003–04 26th 500m 16th 5000m 21st 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(22nd) 18th 5000m 2004–05 24th 500m 10th 5000m 20th 1500m 9th 10000m 12th overall 9th 5000m 10th 10000m 17th 500m 8th 5000m 17th 1500m 8th 10000m 11th overall 2005–06 22nd 500m 15th 5000m 20th 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(20th) 13th 5000m 14th 10000m Source:

NC = No classification DNQ = Did not qualify

Medals won ChampionshipGold Silver Bronze European Allround classification 1 1 1 Olympic Games 1 0 2 World Single Distances 0 2 1 World Allround classification 0 0 3 Dutch Allround classification 0 3 3 Dutch Single Distances 4 3 4

Medals An overview of medals won by Veldkamp at important championships, listing the years in which he won each medal: Championship Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal Winter Olympics 1992 (10000 m) 1994 (10000 m) 1998 (5000 m) World Allround 1990 1991 2001 World Single Distance 1996 (10000 m) 1999 (5000 m) 1998 (5000 m) European Allround 1990 2001 1991 Dutch Allround 1991 1992 1993 1989 1994 1995 Dutch Single Distance 1991 (5000 m) 1991 (10000 m) 1992 (5000 m) 1992 (10000 m) 1990 (10000 m) 1991 (1500 m) 1993 (10000 m) 1988 (5000 m) 1990 (5000 m) 1993 (5000 m) 1994 (5000 m)