{"id":2430,"date":"2014-02-12T21:04:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T21:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2014-07-18T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T15:57:00","slug":"3-in-1-de-plakken-for-the-dutch-speed-skating-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/3-in-1-de-plakken-for-the-dutch-speed-skating-team\/","title":{"rendered":"3 in 1 – De Plakken for the Dutch Speed Skating Team!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Monday, February 10th, the\u00a0Nederlands Olympisch Schaatsteam\u00a0<\/em><\/em>(Dutch Olympic speed skating team) did something that no Dutch team has ever done.\u00a0At the\u00a0O<\/em>lympische Win<\/em>ter<\/em>spelen\u00a0<\/em>(Olympic Winter Games) held in\u00a0<\/span>Sotsji (<\/em>Sochi) in\u00a0<\/span>Rusland\u00a0<\/em>(Russia)\u00a0Michel Mulder earned the <\/span>gouden plak (<\/i>gold medal)<\/span>\u00a0on the <\/span>Vijfhonderd meter –<\/em>\u00a0500 meters x 2 (meaning that there ar<\/span>e two races of 500 meters. The times a<\/span>re then accumulated).<\/span><\/p>\n

Even more sensational was that the silver medal also went to a Dutch athlete, Jan Smeekens. And the third medal was for Ronald Mulder, Michel’s bro<\/span>ther. What’s more, the time difference between the three was minimal. All three finished within the same second. Michel and Jan were only 12 thousandths of a sec<\/span>ond apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier on Saturday, February 8th, a similar scenario occurred. After 5000 meters Sven Kramer, Jan Blokhuijsen, and Jorrit Bergsma, in that order, were the Olympic champions.<\/p>\n

Sven Kramer is the most famous of the skaters mentioned here. He also set a new Olympic record in this run: 6:10.76. That means he had an average speed of 30.1 mph<\/span>! Not only here he showed his excellence. He has been world champion multiple times before, and currently holds the world records for the 5000 meters and 10000 meters. That is at the least\u00a0<\/span>Indrukwekkend\u00a0<\/em>(impressive).<\/span><\/p>\n

Schaatsen\u00a0<\/em>just is, next to soccer,\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em>sport of the Dutch. Famously, the\u00a0Elfstedentocht,\u00a0<\/em>a tour going through eleven cities in the province of\u00a0<\/span>Fri<\/em>esland\u00a0<\/em>in the Netherlands, is supposed to be held every year. However, the conditions have to be op<\/span>timal, which is rarely the case. Often there is just not (thick) enough ice to skate on. So every year when the conditions might be just right, the heart of every Dutch person beats a little faster. It is all waiting for the magical words\u00a0<\/span>It Giet Oan!,\u00a0<\/em>which is Frisian for\u00a0<\/span>It takes place!\u00a0<\/em>The last time these words were uttered for this occasi<\/span>on was in 1997. And that was only the fifteenth time (<\/span>More<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

I added some videos that can give you a nicer feel of what the Olympic victory was like.<\/p>\n

The King Willem Alexander and his Queen M\u00e1xima are\u00a0uit hun dak\u00a0<\/em>(a saying, which basically means they are ‘happy out of bounds’) after the trio Mulder, Smeekens, Mulder claimed their victory.<\/p>\n