Rintje Ritsma

Robert Rintje Ritsma (born 13 April 1970) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. His nickname is the Beer van Lemmer, which translates to the "Bear from Lemmer", analogous to Igor Zhelezovski's nickname "The Bear from Minsk", both of which are in reference to their imposing physical appearance.

He appeared in the Dutch version of The Masked Singer as the Springbok.

In October 2022 Ritsma started as the Dutch national speed skating coach of the team pursuit, team sprint, and the mass start.

Speed skating career He has won the World Allround Championships 4 times. He won this title in 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2001; he was second in 1998 and 2003; he was third in 1993, 1994 and 2000.

He has won the European Allround Championships a record 6 times: 1994-1996 and 1998-2000.

He participated in five Winter Olympics, winning two silver and four bronze medals, from the 1994, 1998 and 2006 Games.

He also stood at the top of the alltime world ranking, the Adelskalender, for a long time (1,125 days in total).

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

Event Result Date Location Notes 1500 meter 1:51.60 8 January 1994 Hamar World record until 16 February 1994 Big combination156.201 9 January 1994 Hamar World record until 4 January 19981500 meter 1:48.88 20 December 1997 Heerenveen World record until 12 February 1998 Big combination 152.651 7 February 1999 Hamar World record until 17 March 2002 Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com

Tournament overview Season Dutch Championships Single Distances Dutch Championships Allround Dutch Championships Sprint European Championships Allround Olympic Games World Championships Single Distances World Championships Allround World Championships Sprint World Cup GWC World Championships Junior Allround 1987–88 15th 500m 7th 3000m 9th 1500m 4th 5000m 5th overall 1988–89 23rd 500m 16th 1500m 12th 5000m 29th 500m 3000m 8th 1500m 5000m overall 1989–90 11th 500m 8th 1500m 9th 5000m 15th 10000m 8th 500m 5th 5000m 6th 1500m 5th 10000m 5th overall 1990–91 4th 1500m 4th 5000m 6th 10000m 12th 500m 5th 5000m 12th 1500m 6th 10000m 7th overall 13th 1500m 1991–92 5th 1000m 1500m 6th 5000m 7th 10000m 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall 4th 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 6th 10000m overall 27th 500m 12th 1000m 4th 1500m 5th 500m 8th 5000m 8th 1500m 6th 10000m 5th overall 4th 1500m 11th 5000/10000m 1992–93 500m 1500m 5000m 10000m 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall 500m 4th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 4th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall 1500m 5000/10000m 1993–94 1500m 5000m 10000m 500m 4th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall 1500m 5000m 7th 10000m 8th 500m 6th 5000m 4th 1500m 4th 10000m overall 27th 1000m 1500m 5000/10000m 1994–95 1500m 5000m 10000m 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1500m 5000/10000m 1995–96 1500m 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 7th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 8th 5000m 10th 10000m 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 8th 1500m 5000/10000m 1996–97 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1500m 5000m 10000m 9th 500m 7th 5000m 5th 1500m 7th 10000m 5th overall 1500m 5000/10000m 1997–98 1500m 5000m 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1500m 5000m 10000m 4th 1500m 5000m 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1500m 4th 5000/10000m 1998–99 1500m 5000m 4th 10000m 4th 500m 1000m 5th 500m 1000m 4th overall 500m 5000m 1500m 9th 10000m overall 1500m 18th 5000m 4th 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall 17th 500m 9th 1000m 27th 500m 14th 1000m 19th overall 1500m 5th 5000/10000m 1999–2000 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall 500m 4th 5000m 4th 1500m 6th 10000m overall 7th 500m 6th 5000m 5th 1500m 7th 10000m overall 1500m 4th 5000/10000m 2000–01 11th 1000m 5th 1500m 5000m 24th 500m 13th 5000m 9th 1500m DNQ 10000m NC22 overall 13th 1500m 5th 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall 1500m 9th 5000/10000m 2001–02 9th 1000m 1500m 5000m 500m 15th 5000m DNS 1500m DNS 10000m NC overall 13th 500m 11th 1000m 13th 500m 12th 1000m 12th overall 9th 1500m 12th 1500m 16th 5000/10000m 2002–03 11th 1500m 6th 5000m 8th 500m 6th 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 8th 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall 11th 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 10000m overall 2003–04 13th 5000m 10th 500m 12th 5000m 10th 1500m 10th 10000m 9th overall 2004–05 25th 1500m 10th 5000m 6th 500m 12th 5000m 13th 1500m 8th 10000m 7th overall 2005–06 22nd 1500m 4th 5000m 5th 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 10000m overall team pursuit 15th 5000/10000m 2006–07 20th 5000m 16th 500m 5th 5000m 21st 1500m 5th 10000m 6th overall team pursuit 2007–08 19th 500m 15th 5000m 22nd 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(20) source:

World Cup overview

On 1 December 2013 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sven Kramer won his 30th ISU World Cup event thus surpassing Ritsma as the most successful Dutch World Cup speed skater.

Season1500 meter 1990–1991 17th 20th 22nd 9th – 1991–1992 4th 10th 10th 1992–1993 4th 1993–1994 4th 5th 1994–1995 5th 5th 6th 1995–1996 5th 4th 5th 4th 8th 12th 1996–1997 – – 5th 1997–1998 4th 4th – 1998–1999 7th 6th – 1999–2000 6th 17th 6th 2000–2001 16th 16th 2001–2002 5th 11th – – 6th 10th 2005–2006 Season5000/10000 meter 1990–1991 1991–1992 – 20th* 7th 14th 1992–1993 4th 9th 8th* 1993–1994 * 4th 4th 5th* 1994–1995 7th* 1995–1996 4th * 1996–1997 –* 6th 1997–1998 5th 4th 6th * – 1998–1999 16th* – 1999–2000 4th 6th* 13th 4th 2000–2001 –* 4th – 16th 2001–2002 12th 20th – – 2005–2006 12th 13th –* 15th 8th Season SeasonTeam pursuit 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1993 1993–1994 1994–1995 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 2001–2002 2005–2006 – – Source: – = Did not participate = 10000 meter

Medals won Championship Gold Silver Bronze Dutch Single Distances 11 5 3 Dutch Allround Events 7 12 7 Dutch Allround Classification 2 4 3 European Allround Events 12 8 8 European Allround Classification 6 2 2 Olympic Games 0 2 4 World Cup Events 29 20 14 World Cup Classification 6 0 4 World Single Distances 2 2 1 World Allround Events 3 8 6 World Allround Classification 4 2 3 World Junior Allround Events 0 2 0 World Junior Allround Classification 0 1 0 Total 82 68 55