Annette Gerritsen: “Skating was my hobby, it is my hobby and it will remain my hobby”

Lover

We spoke to Annette Gerritsen at the Jaap Edenbaan in Amsterdam. Familiar territory, because here she learned to skate and here she still skates her rounds every week. Because Annette remains a lover. “It was my hobby, it is my hobby and it will always be my hobby. You are never done improving yourself,” she says. Not even now that her active career as a competitive skater is over. “Even now when I’m skating, I watch my technique.” According to her, the great thing about skating is that it is a very fair sport. “It is not a jury sport, so the best one wins. If you are good and you are well prepared, then you have everything in your own hands.”

Speed

She thinks speed is a nice aspect of skating. “At your fastest you go about 50.55 kilometers per hour. But I can’t get that now, you know!” Annette adds with a broad smile. When you go that fast, you don’t have to think anymore. “If you’re completely focused, and the race is going the way you want, your whole body is on edge. If you’re thinking a lot, then you don’t race well.”

Sprint

In the youth Annette was a real all-rounder, only later did she focus more and more on the sprint. “I had a lot of sprint fibers and I was a very good starter,” she explains her specialization. “If I really wanted to, I could also have done all-round, but my sprint was just better. It’s also a shame not to do everything right. So it’s better to say: my focus is the 500 and 1000 meters. I can become the best. I rode the 1500 meters because it also went well.”

Silver

Of the short distances, the 1000 meters was the best distance for Annette. She also achieved her greatest success on this: a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010. She was previously one of the favorites in the sprint, but during her first appearance in the 500 meters it went wrong immediately. She crashed hard after a miss. That was a big blow to the bill. Fortunately, she was not injured and because she did finish the stage, she was still allowed to ride the second round. That gave her a good feeling for the 1000 meters, two days later. “Then I was at the start differently.”

In the 500 meters it had all been too forced, now it had to be different. She said to herself, “You’re in good shape and that’s good enough.” Annette Gerritsen then rode the ride of her life, but at the end came two hundredths of a second short of the gold, which went to Canadian Christine Nesbitt.

She did not wake up, she was so happy with the silver. “Two days before I was still on the ice and I had nothing. Of course I was very close to gold, but also very far away. Whether it’s a second or two hundredths, in the end I was just second. Then it doesn’t matter. I rode my ride the way it was supposed to. I didn’t make any mistakes and I made no mistakes so I’m okay with that.”

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