Another 1000 meters and then the Olympic skating career of Ireen Wüst is over. On Thursday she will be on the Olympic ice one more time. In her last match she skates against the Polish Andzelika Wojcik.
Wüst does not want to be busy with her farewell tour yet, although she understands that many are talking about it. Her focus is first on performing and that also applies to her third song at these Games. The previous two yielded gold and bronze.
“If I’m at the start, it’s to win,” she said firmly before her 1500 meters. She looks back after March 12, after her last real race in Thialf.
The 35-year-old speed skater from Goirle has an extremely successful relationship with the Olympic Games. Thursday will be her twentieth Olympic distance. Thirteen of the previous nineteen starts earned her a medal. And maybe Thursday the fourteenth.
As a 19-year-old, she made a golden debut at the 2006 Games in Turin. Wüst won the 3000 meters twice, the 1500 meters three times and won gold in the team pursuit in 2014. In addition, there were a further five silver and two bronze medals. This makes her the most successful Dutch Olympian ever.
She achieved her sixth gold medal in this Olympics. With this great achievement, the Goirlese wrote history.
“Isn’t this incredible?” Wüst responds to a question from NOS reporter Bert Maalderink after her unique performance. “As a 19-year-old boy I was yelling at you and now, sixteen years later, again at 35.”
The 1000 meters for women starts on Thursday morning at half past nine Dutch time.