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",[1] and has become famous for some of the incidents that happened to him during his career.

Hilbert van der Duim
Personal information
NationalityDutch
Born (1957-08-04) 4 August 1957 (age 67)
Beetsterzwaag, Netherlands
Sport
CountryNetherlands
SportSpeed skating
Turned pro1979
Retired1987
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)500 m: 37.70 (1982)
1000 m: 1:15.80 (1981)
1500 m: 1:57.57 (1985)
3000 m: 4:06.59 (1983)
5000 m: 6:59.73 (1982)
10 000 m: 14:27.81 (1982)
Medal record
Men's speed skating
Representing the  Netherlands
World Allround Championships
Gold medal – first place 1980 Heerenveen Allround
Gold medal – first place 1982 Assen Allround
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Gothenburg Allround
Bronze medal – third place 1985 Hamar Allround
World Sprint Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Helsinki Sprint
European Allround Championships
Gold medal – first place 1983 The Hague Allround
Gold medal – first place 1984 Larvik Allround
Silver medal – second place 1981 Deventer Allround
Bronze medal – third place 1982 Oslo Allround
Dutch Allround Championships
Gold medal – first place 1979 Heerenveen Allround
Gold medal – first place 1980 Den Haag Allround
Gold medal – first place 1981 Assen Allround
Gold medal – first place 1982 Heerenveen Allround
Gold medal – first place 1983 Deventer Allround
Gold medal – first place 1984 Groningen Allround
Gold medal – first place 1985 Alkmaar Allround
Silver medal – second place 1978 Eindhoven Allround
Dutch Sprint Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Utrecht Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 1985 Utrecht Sprint
Dutch Marathon Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Eernewoude Natural Ice

Career

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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.[2] In 1986, Van der Duim switched to marathon skating and impressed by his high skating speed. On 28 November 1986, he became World Hour Record holder, skating 39,492.80 metres in one hour. He was forced to end his skating career when he was involved in a severe automobile accident in 1987, driving home after a marathon.

Van der Duim was of the last generation of skaters before the commercialization of the sport in the Netherlands;[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

Incidents

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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.[5] Later, Van der Duim admitted there had been no excrement,[6] but the episode has come to stand for any unexplained failure in Dutch sports.[7]

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

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Personal records
Men's Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500m 37.70 10 February 1982 Davos Hand clocked
1,000m 1:15.80 31 January 1981 Davos
1,500m 1:57.57 20 January 1985 Davos
3,000m 4:06.59 10 February 1983 Inzell
5,000m 6:59.73 3 January 1982 Inzell
10,000m 14:27.81 7 March 1982 Inzell

Source: www.isu.org[8]

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

World records

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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:[9]

Tournament overview

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Season
Dutch
Championships
Allround
Dutch
Championships
Sprint
European
Championships
Allround
Olympic
Games
World
Championships
Allround
World
Championships
Sprint
World
Championships
Junior
Allround


1975–76
MADONNA di
CAMPIGLIO

6th 500m
20th 1500m
DQ 1000m
DNQ 5000m
NC overall

1976–77
INZELL

  500m
6th 1500m
7th 1000m
  5000m
  overall

1977–78
EINDHOVEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
OSLO

6th 500m
12th 5000m
18th 1500m
9th 10000m
11th overall
GOTHENBURG

7th 500m
7th 5000m
14th 1500m
6th 10000m
9th overall
MONTREAL

33rd 500m
6th 1500m
  1000m
  5000m
16th overall

1978–79
HEERENVEEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
DEVENTER

4th 500m
7th 5000m
11th 1500m
12th 10000m
6th overall
OSLO

10th 500m
5th 5000m
32nd 1500m
14th 10000m
16th overall

1979–80
THE HAGUE

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
TRONDHEIM

4th 500m
9th 5000m
6th 1500m
9th 10000m
5th overall
LAKE PLACID

28th 500m
21st 1000m
11th 1500m
4th 5000m
6th 10000m
HEERENVEEN

5th 500m
  5000m
  1500m
9th 10000m
  overall

1980–81
ASSEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
DEVENTER

  500m
  5000m
5th 1500m
8th 10000m
  overall
OSLO

6th 500m
9th 5000m
33rd 1500m
  10000m
16th overall
GRENOBLE

9th 500m
4th 1000m
10th 500m
15th 1000m
7th overall

1981–82
HEERENVEEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
OSLO

  500m
9th 5000m
4th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
ASSEN

4th 500m
  5000m
  1500m
4th 10000m
  overall

1982–83
DEVENTER

  500m
  5000m
5th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
UTRECHT

4th 500m
4th 1000m
  500m
  1000m
  overall
THE HAGUE

5th 500m
13th 5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
OSLO

  500m
17th 5000m
10th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall
HELSINKI

11th 500m
  1000m
9th 500m
  1000m
  overall

1983–84
GRONINGEN

  500m
  5000m
4th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
LARVIK

  500m
7th 5000m
  1500m
7th 10000m
  overall
SARAJEVO

7th 1000m
7th 1500m
9th 5000m
10th 10000m
GOTHENBURG

  500m
  5000m
8th 1500m
11th 10000m
  overall

1984–85
ALKMAAR

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
UTRECHT

6th 500m
  1000m
5th 500m
  1000m
  overall
ESKILSTUNA

4th 500m
7th 5000m
11th 1500m
  10000m
4th overall
HAMAR

4th 500m
  5000m
11th 1500m
6th 10000m
  overall
HEERENVEEN

13th 500m
9th 1000m
22nd 500m
7th 1000m
8th overall
DNQ = Did not qualify for the last distance
NC = No classification

source:[10] [11] [12] [13]

Medals won

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Championship Gold
 
Silver
 
Bronze
 
Dutch Allround Classification 7 1 0
Dutch Allround Single Event 12 15 3
Dutch Sprint Classification 0 0 2
Dutch Sprint Single Event 1 2 1
European Allround Classification 2 1 1
European Allround Single Event 4 3 1
Olympic Games 0 0 0
World Allround Classification 2 0 2
World Allround Single Event 3 4 2
World Sprint Classification 0 0 1
World Sprint Single Event 0 1 1
World Junior Allround Classification 0 0 1
World Junior Allround Single Event 0 3 1

References

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  1. ^ Haan, Rob de (9 January 2010). "Wachten op de Elfstedentocht" (in Dutch). Nu.nl. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  2. ^ a b Magnée, Peter (23 January 1999). "Bekende Nederlanders voor de klas: Hilbert van der Duim". Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond. Retrieved 25 February 2010. [dead link]
  3. ^ Oudshoorn, Erik (28 March 1998). "Op zoek naar het grote geld in de schaatssport" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  4. ^ Cornelisse, Louis (13 December 1997). "Leuk Ideetje Moet Niet Serieus Worden" (in Dutch). Trouw. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  5. ^ "Waarim is Hilbert er voor om liggen gaan?". Bokwerder Belang. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  6. ^ "Historische schaatsbloopers". De Telegraaf. 24 February 2010. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  7. ^ Randewijk, Marije (13 August 2008). "Holland Vier zoekt schuld bij het wier" (in Dutch). de Volkskrant. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  8. ^ "Hilbert van de Duim Personal best". www.isu.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  9. ^ "Evolution of the world hour record Men - SpeedSkatingStats.com". www.speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Hilbert van der Duim". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Hilbert van der Duim". speedskatingnews.info. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Hilbert van der Duim". ISU.org. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Hilbert van der Duim". schaatsstatistieken.nl. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
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Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Netherlands
Sarajevo 1984
Succeeded by