And that’s three. With a long sprint, started 400 meters earlier, Irene Schouten skated into the history books on Saturday as the best Dutch winter Olympian ever. Just as many gold medals as Ard Schenk (Sapporo 1972) and Yvonne van Gennip (Calgary 1988) won at an Olympics, but one more bronze medal.
Just as she also won the first medal for the Netherlands, Schouten also won the last medal at these Winter Games. It started with the gold in the 3,000 meters in the opening weekend, a race that, according to Schouten, was so busy that she had a hard time falling asleep during her afternoon nap.
After that, the pressure was off and her masterclass in drafting in the 5,000 meters followed on Thursday 10 February, an impressive race in which she went faster and faster in the final laps. A personal record, Dutch record, Olympic record followed. Schouten was also very happy because it was “a really good ride”, she said afterwards.
Also read this interview with Irene Schouten: ‘Eventually you do it for yourself’
Earlier this week, the bronze medal came in the team pursuit event. That mission was partly successful; Schouten did not manage to become a unit on the ice with Ireen Wüst, Antoinette de Jong and Marijke Groenewoud. It was more about the fringe, about selfish messages and disagreements, than about a good race. In the end, the bronze behind Canada and Japan was the highest achievable, but with two Olympic champions and a bronze medal winner there would have been more.
Gold with its own story
A third gold medal followed this Saturday, one with its own story. Schouten seemed to celebrate this the hardest. It feels like a reward, she says after the final of the mass start, because she believes that, with the Zaanlander team, she is one of the few in the Netherlands – and perhaps in the whole world – that takes this part seriously. “It may sound arrogant, but I think I deserved this one.”
Schouten has been riding the mass start, and also the related marathons, with great success for years. In both parts she is one of the best, even if she doesn’t always win, due to tactics or just bad luck. She therefore found the mass start more difficult to win at these Winter Games than the three and five kilometers. In those matches she had control over her own performance, not now.
The Olympics are a snapshot, everything has to be right at once. Schouten had drawn up a plan with Marijke Groenewoud; her teammate would put on the sprint. But that failed due to a crash by Groenewoud. Okay, then things have to be different, Schouten thought immediately, used to the unpredictable course of these kinds of matches.
She decided to start early, because she gets up to speed less quickly than some competitors. But once Schouten is at top speed, no one can keep up with her. So when Canadian Ivanie Blondin came under in the first corner, Schouten knew that nothing was lost. She had practiced approaching the next corner with her teammate Jorrit Bergsma last week, she knew she would come out with more speed than Blondin.
At the finish she turned out to be nine hundredths of a second faster. A heartfelt cry is followed by tears. With her coach Jillert Anema, with Bergsma, with Schouten herself. They have managed to do this as a team, is their feeling. “It is a fifty-fifty medal for Groenewoud and me,” says Schouten, who describes the mass start as a part of the team.
That is why Yvonne van Gennip still has an advantage, she says. Like Schenk, she won her gold medals in three individual distances. Nonsense, says Van Gennip, also present in China as team manager of the Dutch team. “It is already so difficult to stay upright at the mass start, I think it has just as much value.”
She just proudly posted about it on social media, says Van Gennip. In it, she welcomes Schouten to the three-time gold club.