Piet Kleine

Pieter "Piet" Kleine (born 17 September 1951) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands who specialized in the longer distances.

Short biography At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Piet Kleine became Olympic Champion on the 10,000 m, beating world record holder Sten Stensen – who won silver – in a close race. This was a reversal of the roles in the Olympic 5,000 m (which had been held three days earlier), in which Stensen had won gold and Kleine silver. In both the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m, Dutch – later French – speed skater Hans van Helden (then world record holder on the 5,000 m) won bronze. Later that same year (1976), Kleine broke 4 worlds records (including Van Helden's 5,000 m world record) and also became World Allround Champion.

Kleine participated again in the Winter Olympics of Lake Placid (1980), winning Olympic silver on the 10,000 m behind Eric Heiden. He ended his career as a speed skater in 1981 and started a successful career in amateur bicycle racing. In 1985, as a member of the Dutch national team, he finished 5th at the World Championships on the 100 km team time trial.

In 1986, Kleine became a marathon skater. This led to some controversy in 1997 when he finished 5th in the Elfstedentocht, but was subsequently removed from the final list of results because of a missing stamp on his stamp card. The controversy lay in the fact that, afterwards, it became clear that in the past several winners of the Elfstedentocht had missed stamps too, but were still declared the winners.

Kleine ended his skating career in 2001 and continued his profession as a postman, a profession he had always kept alongside his sports careers. In his free time, Kleine is the leader of a team of marathon skaters.

He later coached Dan Jansen.

Records World records Over the course of his career, Kleine skated 4 world records:

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

Kleine has an Adelskalender score of 164.899 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was 2nd place.

Tournament overview SeasonDutch Championships Allround European Championships Allround Olympic Games World Championships Allround 1970–71 11th 500m 9th 5000m 8th 1500m 9th 10000m 8th overall 1971–72 8th 500m 10th 5000m 10th 1500m 9th 10000m 8th overall 1972–73 5th 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall GRENOBLE 20th 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m 5th overall 8th 500m 4th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1973–74 6th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall DQ 500m 10th 5000m 8th 1500m DQ 10000m DQ overall 24th 500m 10th 5000m 7th 1500m 8th 10000m 10th overall 1974–75 13th 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 14th 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 4th 10000m overall 25th 500m 10th 5000m 13th 1500m 5th 10000m 13th overall 1975–76 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 14th 500m 8th 5000m 9th 1500m 7th 10000m 8th overall 18th 1000m 6th 1500m 5000m 10000m 12th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1976–77 8th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 22nd 500m 5000m 9th 1500m 10000m 7th overall 19th 500m 7th 5000m 6th 1500m 5th 10000m 8th overall 1977–78 9th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 20th 500m 4th 5000m 10th 1500m 4th 10000m 9th overall 22nd 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 7th 10000m 10th overall 1978–79 13th 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 10000m 5th overall 21st 500m 9th 5000m 13th 1500m 10th 10000m 13th overall 1979–80 11th 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 10000m overall 15th 500m 7th 5000m 12th 1500m 7th 10000m 12th overall 6th 5000m 10000m 17th 500m 7th 5000m 9th 1500m 11th 10000m 9th overall 1980–81 7th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 18th 500m 4th 5000m 10th 1500m 10000m 8th overall 27th 500m 5000m 12th 1500m 7th 10000m 10th overall source:

Medals won ChampionshipGold Silver Bronze Olympic Games World Allround European Allround Dutch Allround

Medals An overview of medals won by Kleine at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championship Gold Silver Bronze Olympic Games 1976 (10000 m) 1976 (5000 m) 1980 (10000 m) World Allround 1976 1973 European Allround 1975 Dutch Allround 1978 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1981 1980