Marieke Wijsman
Encyclopedia
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
speed skater
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
who represented her country at two Winter Olympics and who was the first female speed skater to compete internationally on clap skate
Clap skate
The clap skate is a type of ice skate used in speed skating. Unlike in traditional skates where the blade is rigidly fixed to the boot, clap skates have the blade attached to the boot by a hinge at the front...
s.
Wijsman, born in Leusden
Leusden
Leusden is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located about 3 kilometres southeast of Amersfoort....
became a member of a local speed skating club in Ankeveen during he 1988-89 season. Her first competitive races as a 13-year old were at the Jaap Edenbaan in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where she fell on the 500 m due to the nerves she had. The second 500 m race she recovered and finished in 1:07.1, while her first competitive 1000 m was skated in 2:44.0 that same weekend. Her first ever competitive races with her team she skated 53.10 at the 500 m and 2:53.8 at the 1500 m. In the upcoming years she improved year after year while her training capabilities were set to a higher level as well.
In 1992 she appeared at a Dutch national championship for the first time as she participated in the Supersprint Championships held in Groningen and finishes in 17th position. Then in 1994 she became 8th during the Dutch national junior A allround championships, which earns her a spot into a regional district team. While in this district team she raced her first international race in December 1995, which was a nations clash in Hamar
Hamar
is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...
where the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
were held. At the 1996 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships Wijsman crowned herself as the Dutch national 1500 m champion in Groningen.
This success promoted her into a nationwide team led by Eddy Verheijen. She qualifies herself for World Cup meetings in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and became the first female skater who competed in international races on clap skates. A Japanese newspaper interviewed her and wrote an article about her. Her first victory was won on 11 January 1997 in Milwaukee where she won the 1000 m of the B-Group. Later in 1997 she was promoted again, this time into the Kernploeg, which is the highest possible team managed by the KNSB, which was led by Peter Mueller.
She took part in World Cups (won two B-Group races over 1000 and 1500 m in Baselga di Pine
Baselga di Pinè
Baselga di Pinè is a comune in Trentino in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 12 km northeast of Trento...
and Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, World Sprint Championships in Hamar (20th) and also qualified herself for the 1998 Winter Olympics
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
in Nagano. In Nagano she finished 24th on the 500 m and 20th at the 1000 m. Later that year she also showed up at the World Single Distance Championships over 1500 m in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
where she finished in 13th position. The following year she finished in 6th position in the World Cup standings and 9th at the World Single Distance Championships, both over 1500 m. She qualified for the 2000 European and World Allround Championships, finishing in 11th and 14th position respectively. In February 2000 she won a bronze medal at the Dutch Sprint Championships in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
as well as finishing 18th at the Sprint World Championships in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
.
In January 2001 she won another World Cup race in the B-Group, this time a 1000 m race in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. A month later she fell hard and suffered a skull fracture
Skull fracture
A skull fracture is a break in one or more of the bones in the skull usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive the bone may fracture at or near the site of the impact...
and after she recovered she was not selected for any of the kernploeg teams any longer. She trained in Marianne Timmer
Marianne Timmer
Maria Aaltje Timmer is a Dutch speed skater specializing in the middle distances . At the 1998 Winter Olympics Timmer won a gold medal in both these events.- Personal life :...
's professional team for a while, but this team did not last long and was on her own again. However, in that period she won another B-Group World Cup meeting over 500 m in Heerenveen, won another bronze medal at the Dutch national sprint championships, finished 11th in the World Sprint Championships and qualified for her second Olympics where she took part in the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
held in Salt Lake City. She finished in both the 500 m as the 1000 m in 18th position. With help by Tjalling van den Bosch
Tjalling van den Bosch
Tjalling van den Bosch or "Charlie" as he was often called, was a competitive Dutch powerlifter, strongman, and Highland Games athlete. He competed only once in World's Strongest Man in 1990 finishing 7th, however, he was scheduled to compete in 1989 but had to withdraw due to an injury...
she found herself some sponsors to start her own professional team. During the summer of 2002 she trained with Peter Mueller again, but when Van den Bosch became a fitness coach at the American national team she moved with him to Salt Lake City again to prepare for the 2004 season and for the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
, resulting in a silver medal at the 2003 Dutch sprint championships. At the World sprint championships she did only reach the 23rd spot, but at the 2003 World Single Distance Championships she in 12th (500m) and 13th (1000m) position.
Although her relationship with Van den Bosch was good they decided to go their own way at the end of the 2004-05 season and after finishing 23rd at the World Sprint Championships Wijsman mentally needed something different. Since June 2005 she trained with the KNSB regional top team again. In this team she participated in World Cup meetings again as well as the World Sprint Championships in Heerenveen where she became 16th. She won a B-Group race over 1000 m in Milwaukee, but was unable to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics. In the summer of 2006 she applied for a job with the police and was hired. A contract signed between the police station and the KNSB made sure she was still able to compete in speed skating while learning to become an allround police officer. Together with Frouke Oonk she became part of the team of Chris Witty
Chris Witty
Christine Diane Witty is an American speed skater and racing cyclist and participated in the Olympic Games in both sports. However, she is more successful in skating....
, who quit her international career after the Olympics and started training her own team.
However in late December 2006 Marieke Wijsman decided to end her international career as a speed skater immediately and concentrate on her future job as a police officer for 100 percent. Her last notable result was a B-Group World Cup win over 500 m in Heerenveen on 11 November 2006.
Wijsman is openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
.