While celebrating his son’s record run
Speed skater’s father breaks Olympic volunteer’s glasses
02/19/2026 – 10:02 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The Dutchman Joep Wennemar’s Olympic record runs over 1500 meters. His father can no longer be stopped in the stands. But disillusionment doesn’t take long to come.
The father of Dutch speed skater Joep Wennemars created a memorable Olympic moment at the Milan Games.
Erben Wennemars watched the 1,500 meter run from the stands on Thursday. What’s more, he was so excited that he couldn’t stay in his seat anymore.
And he had every reason to. Because son Joep ran a fabulous race. As he crossed the finish line, Wennemars Senior looked spellbound at the scoreboard. And there appeared: Olympic record with a time of 1:43.05 minutes. The joy of Wennemar’s heirs now knew no bounds.
He clenched both fists, let out a whoop of joy, pounded on the paneling of a reporter’s table and ran up the stairs of the stand. When he reached the top, he grabbed a volunteer sitting there, grabbed his head with both hands and kissed him on the cheek. In the heat of the moment, he did this so clumsily that the arm of the Olympic volunteer’s glasses broke. He didn’t find that funny at all.
Now Wennemars, who won bronze twice in speed skating at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, no longer knew what to do with his emotions. He continued pacing, alternating between cheering for his son’s run and apologizing to the volunteer for his faux pas.
However, disillusionment followed quickly: Wennemars Junior broke the Olympic record, but three other athletes did the same after him. His record run wasn’t even enough for a medal. Ning Zhongyan from China secured gold in this high-class race with the then valid Olympic record of 1:41.98 minutes. Silver went to US sprint star Jordan Stolz (1:42.75), who won his third medal in Milan after gold in the 500 meters and 1000 meters.
Completing the podium was Wennemar’s compatriot Kjeld Nuis (1:42.82), 2018 and 2022 Olympic champion over 1500 meters. For Wennemars, only “Blech” remained in fourth place. It is not known whether Wennemars Senior then caused other objects to break – this time out of frustration.