Rintje Ritsma

Summary

Robert Rintje Ritsma (born 13 April 1970)[1] 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.

Rintje Ritsma
Rintje Ritsma in 2006
Personal information
NicknameBeer van Lemmer
NationalityDutch
Born (1970-04-13) 13 April 1970 (age 54)
Lemmer, Netherlands
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight93 kg (205 lb)
Websitewww.rintjeritsma.nl
Sport
Country Netherlands
SportSpeed skating
Turned pro1988
Retired2008
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)500 m: 38.90 (1999)
1000 m: 1:10.19 (1999)
1500 m: 1:45.86 (2002)
3000 m: 3:49.29 (2004)
5000 m: 6:20.26 (2005)
10 000 m: 13:28.19 (1998)
Medal record
Men's speed skating
Representing  Netherlands
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1994 Lillehammer 1,500 m
Silver medal – second place 1998 Nagano 5,000 m
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Lillehammer 5,000 m
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Nagano 1,500 m
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Nagano 10,000m
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Turin Team pursuit
World Allround Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Baselga di Pinè allround
Gold medal – first place 1996 Inzell allround
Gold medal – first place 1999 Hamar allround
Gold medal – first place 2001 Budapest allround
Silver medal – second place 1998 Heerenveen allround
Silver medal – second place 2003 Gothenburg allround
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Hamar allround
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Gothenburg allround
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Milwaukee allround
World Single Distance Championships
Gold medal – first place 1997 Warsaw 1,500 m
Gold medal – first place 1997 Warsaw 5,000 m
Silver medal – second place 1998 Calgary 5,000 m
Silver medal – second place 1997 Warsaw 10,000m
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Heerenveen 1,500 m
European Allround Championships
Gold medal – first place 1994 Hamar allround
Gold medal – first place 1995 Heerenveen allround
Gold medal – first place 1996 Heerenveen allround
Gold medal – first place 1998 Helsinki allround
Gold medal – first place 1999 Heerenveen allround
Gold medal – first place 2000 Hamar allround
Silver medal – second place 1997 Heerenveen allround
Silver medal – second place 2003 Heerenveen allround
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Heerenveen allround
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Heerenveen allround

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.[2]

Speed skating career edit

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 edit

World records edit

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 combination 156.201 9 January 1994 Hamar World record until 4 January 1998
1500 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[3]

 
Ritsma at the 2003 Dutch Championships in Eindhoven

Personal records edit

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 meter 35.90 20 February 1999 Hamar
1000 meter 1:10.19 20 February 1999 Hamar
1500 meter 1:45.86 19 February 2002 Hamar
3000 meter 3:49.29 11 March 2004 Heerenveen
5000 meter 6:20.26 19 November 2005 Salt Lake City
10000 meter 13:28.19 17 February 1998 Hamar

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com[4]

Tournament overview edit


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
SEOUL

15th 500m
7th 3000m
9th 1500m
4th 5000m
5th overall

1988–89
HEERENVEEN

23rd 500m
16th 1500m
12th 5000m
KYIV

29th 500m
  3000m
8th 1500m
  5000m
  overall

1989–90
HEERENVEEN

11th 500m
8th 1500m
9th 5000m
15th 10000m
ASSEN

8th 500m
5th 5000m
6th 1500m
5th 10000m
5th overall

1990–91
THE HAGUE

4th 1500m
4th 5000m
6th 10000m
ALKMAAR

12th 500m
5th 5000m
12th 1500m
6th 10000m
7th overall

13th 1500m

1991–92
HEERENVEEN

5th 1000m
  1500m
6th 5000m
7th 10000m
ALKMAAR

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

4th 500m
6th 5000m
  1500m
6th 10000m
  overall
ALBERTVILLE

27th 500m
12th 1000m
4th 1500m
CALGARY

5th 500m
8th 5000m
8th 1500m
6th 10000m
5th overall

4th 1500m
11th 5000/10000m

1992–93
DEVENTER

  500m
  1500m
  5000m
  10000m
ASSEN

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

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

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

  1500m
  5000/10000m

1993–94
HEERENVEEN

  1500m
  5000m
  10000m
THE HAGUE

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

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

  1500m
  5000m
7th 10000m
GOTHENBURG

8th 500m
6th 5000m
4th 1500m
4th 10000m
  overall

27th 1000m
  1500m
  5000/10000m

1994–95
THE HAGUE

  1500m
  5000m
  10000m
ASSEN

  500m
6th 5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
HEERENVEEN
  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
BASELGA di PINÈ

  500m
5th 5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall

  1500m
  5000/10000m

1995–96
GRONINGEN

  1500m
THE HAGUE

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
HEERENVEEN

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

8th 5000m
10th 10000m
INZELL

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall

8th 1500m
  5000/10000m

1996–97
ASSEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
HEERENVEEN

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
WARSAW

  1500m
  5000m
  10000m
NAGANO

9th 500m
7th 5000m
5th 1500m
7th 10000m
5th overall

  1500m
  5000/10000m

1997–98
HEERENVEEN

  1500m
  5000m
HELSINKI

  500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall
NAGANO

  1500m
  5000m
  10000m
CALGARY

4th 1500m
  5000m
HEERENVEEN

4th 500m
  5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall

  1500m
4th 5000/10000m

1998–99
GRONINGEN

  1500m
  5000m
4th 10000m
GRONINGEN

4th 500m
  1000m
5th 500m
  1000m
4th overall
HEERENVEEN

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

  1500m
18th 5000m
HAMAR

4th 500m
6th 5000m
  1500m
4th 10000m
  overall
CALGARY

17th 500m
9th 1000m
27th 500m
14th 1000m
19th overall

  1500m
5th 5000/10000m

1999–2000
THE HAGUE

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

  500m
4th 5000m
4th 1500m
6th 10000m
  overall
MILWAUKEE

7th 500m
6th 5000m
5th 1500m
7th 10000m
  overall

  1500m
4th 5000/10000m

2000–01
THE HAGUE

11th 1000m
5th 1500m
  5000m
HEERENVEEN

24th 500m
13th 5000m
9th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC22 overall
SALT LAKE CITY

13th 1500m
BUDAPEST

5th 500m
7th 5000m
  1500m
  10000m
  overall

  1500m
9th 5000/10000m

2001–02
GRONINGEN

9th 1000m
  1500m
  5000m
ALKMAAR

  500m
15th 5000m
DNS 1500m
DNS 10000m
NC overall
GRONINGEN

13th 500m
11th 1000m
13th 500m
12th 1000m
12th overall
SALT LAKE CITY

9th 1500m

12th 1500m
16th 5000/10000m

2002–03
UTRECHT

11th 1500m
6th 5000m
ASSEN

8th 500m
6th 5000m
4th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
HEERENVEEN

8th 500m
  5000m
4th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
GOTHENBURG

11th 500m
  5000m
5th 1500m
  10000m
  overall

2003–04
HEERENVEEN

13th 5000m
EINDHOVEN

10th 500m
12th 5000m
10th 1500m
10th 10000m
9th overall

2004–05
ASSEN

25th 1500m
10th 5000m
HEERENVEEN

6th 500m
12th 5000m
13th 1500m
8th 10000m
7th overall

2005–06
HEERENVEEN

22nd 1500m
4th 5000m
UTRECHT

5th 500m
  5000m
11th 1500m
  10000m
  overall
TURIN

  team pursuit

15th 5000/10000m

2006–07
ASSEN

20th 5000m
HEERENVEEN

16th 500m
5th 5000m
21st 1500m
5th 10000m
6th overall

  team pursuit

2007–08
GRONINGEN

19th 500m
15th 5000m
22nd 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall(20)

source:[5] [6] [7] [8]

World Cup overview edit

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.

Season 1500 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
Season 5000/10000 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 Season Team 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:[9]

– = Did not participate
* = 10000 meter

Medals won edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ Official website Rintje Ritsma
  2. ^ "Schaatsbond vindt in Ritsma opvolger veelbesproken bondscoach Coopmans". NOS.nl (in Dutch). 4 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Rintje Ritsma". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Rintje Ritsma". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  5. ^ "Rintje Rinsma". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Rintje Rinsma". speedskatingnews.info. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Rintje Rinsma". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Rintje Rinsma". ISU.org. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  9. ^ "ISU Speed Skating Results - Live".

External links edit

  • Photos of Rintje Ritsma
  • Rintje Ritsma at SpeedSkatingStats.com
Awards
Preceded by Oscar Mathisen Award
1999
Succeeded by
Preceded by Ard Schenk Award
1994
Succeeded by
Preceded by Ard Schenk Award
1996
Succeeded by
Preceded by Ard Schenk Award
1999
Succeeded by