Hilbert van der Duim

Hilbert van der Duim (born 4 August 1957) is a Dutch former speed skater. A two-time world and European champion, Van der Duim "won often but also fell often", and has become famous for some of the incidents that happened to him during his career.

Career Hilbert van der Duim became World Allround Champion in 1980, was the first skater in four years to beat Eric Heiden in international competition. He became World Allround Champion again in 1982. He also was European Allround Champion twice (in 1983 and 1984) and became Dutch Allround Champion a record number of seven times, winning seven consecutive national Allround titles in the years 1979-1985.

He participated in the Winter Olympics, twice (in 1980 and 1984), but his highest finish was fourth place in the 5,000 meters in 1980 in Lake Placid. the Dutch skating league had such strict rules against advertising, for instance, that Van der Duim was threatened with expulsion after he appeared on television with the name of a sponsor on his hat. After his skating career, Van der Duim became a teacher, teaching economics at Drenthe College, and in the late 1990s he was also active in local politics, taking a seat on the city council of Assen for a populist party.

Incidents Van der Duim gained fame as a colourful skater because of several incidents. At the European Allround Championships in 1981, he fell on the 10,000 m and finished this distance in a time of 15:28.53 (for comparison: during the European Championships the year before, he had skated a time of 15:06.29). His fall probably cost him the title – he won European Allround silver 0.728 points (equivalent to 14.56 seconds on the 10,000 m) behind Amund Sjøbrend. After his 10,000 m race, Van der Duim explained that skating over "bird poop" had made him fall, causing widespread speculation in the Dutch popular press over the nature of the bird. Later, Van der Duim admitted there had been no excrement, but the episode has come to stand for any unexplained failure in Dutch sports.

On the 5,000 m at the World Allround Championships that same year, he sprinted to the finish line one lap too soon and it took him some time to understand what people were trying to tell him – that he had one more lap to go. His chances to successfully defend his World Allround Championships title were ruined when he fell on the 1,500 m the next day.

At the 1983 World Allround Championships in Oslo, Van der Duim was still the reigning World Allround Champion, and he made his appearance in a "rainbow speed skating suit", a white suit with coloured stripes, influenced by the rainbow jersey used by reigning World Champions in bicycle racing. After an excellent 500 m race, he finished only 17th on the 5,000 m and therefore did not qualify for the final distance, the 10,000 m. After his disastrous 5,000 m race, Van der Duim declared that he had "porridge in his legs".

Personal records

Source: www.isu.org

Van der Duim has an Adelskalender score of 162.253 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a 3rd place.

World records Event Result Date Venue Note 1000 meter 1:19.41 8 March 1977 Savalen Junior world record until 30 January 1981 World one hour record 39.4928 km 28 November 1986 Heerenveen Unofficial world record, did not use clap skates

source:

Tournament overview SeasonDutch Championships Allround Dutch Championships Sprint European Championships Allround Olympic Games World Championships Allround World Championships Sprint World Championships Junior Allround 1975–76 6th 500m 20th 1500m DQ 1000m DNQ 5000m NC overall 1976–77 500m 6th 1500m 7th 1000m 5000m overall 1977–78 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 6th 500m 12th 5000m 18th 1500m 9th 10000m 11th overall 7th 500m 7th 5000m 14th 1500m 6th 10000m 9th overall 33rd 500m 6th 1500m 1000m 5000m 16th overall 1978–79 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 4th 500m 7th 5000m 11th 1500m 12th 10000m 6th overall 10th 500m 5th 5000m 32nd 1500m 14th 10000m 16th overall 1979–80 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 4th 500m 9th 5000m 6th 1500m 9th 10000m 5th overall 28th 500m 21st 1000m 11th 1500m 4th 5000m 6th 10000m 5th 500m 5000m 1500m 9th 10000m overall 1980–81 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 8th 10000m overall 6th 500m 9th 5000m 33rd 1500m 10000m 16th overall 9th 500m 4th 1000m 10th 500m 15th 1000m 7th overall 1981–82 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 9th 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall 1982–83 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 10000m overall 4th 500m 4th 1000m 500m 1000m overall 5th 500m 13th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 17th 5000m 10th 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall 11th 500m 1000m 9th 500m 1000m overall 1983–84 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 7th 10000m overall 7th 1000m 7th 1500m 9th 5000m 10th 10000m 500m 5000m 8th 1500m 11th 10000m overall 1984–85 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 6th 500m 1000m 5th 500m 1000m overall 4th 500m 7th 5000m 11th 1500m 10000m 4th overall 4th 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 6th 10000m overall 13th 500m 9th 1000m 22nd 500m 7th 1000m 8th overall DNQ = Did not qualify for the last distance NC = No classification source:

Medals won