Jorrit Bergsma (36) is again competing for the medals at the 10 kilometers in Beijing today. The Frisian marathoner has already completed more than 22,000 laps, but he is also good at letting go. “After the holidays he arrives with a big beard and a few kilos overweight, but a few months later he drives everyone off again.”
Jorrit Bergsma has no idea. He’s been skating all his life, but he has no idea how many there are. ‘I never think about that,’ he says when he hears the impressive number. “Funny, this is very special.”
When he finishes the 10 kilometers in Beijing, he is on 22,190 competition laps. That is more than four times as many as contemporary and competitor Sven Kramer, who has hardly run any marathons. No active top skater has covered more competition kilometres.
Where others suffer from ailments, Bergsma seems to have little trouble with driving to the left for life. ‘At the beginning of the season you sometimes notice it’, he says after a marathon in the Thialf catacombs, ‘then your left leg feels more tired. Then you have to loosen it up with massage for a few weeks.’
In fact, he has been less bothered by that in recent years. He notices nothing of a deviation to the left. His back, like many other skaters, does not bother him. ‘Maybe it makes a difference that we don’t hang in the weights. Many skaters with back problems have simply been too busy with that. I have been slightly overtrained a few times, but that was fifteen years ago. I’m just blessed with a good body.’
So good that at 36 he can still compete with the best. In his career, Sven Kramer was his biggest competitor in the 5 and 10 kilometers for a long time, later Ted-Jan Bloemen, Patrick Roest and Nils van der Poel were added. In 2014 he won the 10 kilometers in Sochi, four years later in Pyeongchang silver and the Frisian is now also participating for the medals.
Turning point
Not surprising for someone who hardly noticed at skating club De Pinguins in Grou. ‘There was a real turning point with Sven Kramer,’ says Guido Berends, who won many skating competitions in his adolescent years. “When I was 15, 16, I stopped growing and he really overshot me. But Jorrit didn’t appear in that whole story.’
Jan Boelen, former chairman of De Pinguins, still remembers when Bergsma’s talent was first recognised. ‘At one point Jorrit asked if he could train with the seniors.’ The group also trained on the inline skating track in Wolvega in the summer. ‘Many marathon riders also rode there. They soon noticed him.’
Bergsma only really blossomed in the marathon world. Jouke Hoogeveen, teammate in one of his first teams, was quickly impressed. ‘And especially his self-confidence, even though he wasn’t really good at it then,’ says Hoogeveen. ‘At the Weissensee I was hungry once, the rest attacked much too early and Jorrit was released from the leading group. Afterwards he said: if I train well, then I should be able to easily win this here.’
Bergsma has since won three on the Weissensee: twice the open NK natural ice (100 km) and once the Alternative Elfstedentocht (200 km). He has also won the Dutch National Marathon twice on Dutch natural ice. And then there are all those marathons won on artificial ice – on New Year’s Day he still became Dutch champion – and his medals at World Cups and the Olympic Games.
emotional life
‘Now that Sven is somewhat on the decline, he is the most complete skater’, says Hoogeveen. No one masters more distances than he: from 5 to 200 kilometers. ‘He has the most effective technique on the longer distances; it’s pure rhythm. If his mind is calm, he can win anything.’
Outwardly he always seems calm, but his trainer Jillert Anema recently joked that Bergsma has ‘a rich inner emotional life’. In the run-up to the qualifying tournament for the previous Games, the stress almost became too much for him. He woke up several times in the middle of the night. Only when he left the hotel and went home to Aldeboarn did he manage to sleep again.
‘The fact that I have already won Olympic gold once does not help to put things into perspective,’ says Bergsma. He is not one to brag about his talent or his achievements, but he is ambitious. ‘You always want to win and compete with those men. Otherwise you may not be eager enough.’
In pursuit of new prizes, he has now skated 12,692 competition kilometres, approximately one and a half times the distance from Aldeboarn to Beijing. It is a dizzying distance, but according to Hoogeveen Bergsma knows where his limits lie. ‘Many athletes train during their vacation, but he doesn’t. He often goes to America with his wife Heather. He can enjoy drinking beers and eating pizza.’
When Bergsma reports again in May, you can see that he has really been away for a while. ‘Then he gets there, with his legs under the hair, a big beard and a few pounds overweight. And then it’s nothing at all, but a few months later he drives everyone off again.’
Bergsma has to laugh when he hears it after the marathon in Heerenveen, which he won. ‘That was after Sochi when I had just become Olympic champion. In America it is all different, also less healthy. Then you let the reins loose for a while. Now that I’m older I have to pay more attention to it, but I can still take it easy.’
‘Dead’
What especially helps is that he really likes skating. Especially the marathons. Thialf shows how comfortable he is in the peloton. He constantly greets people, gives a fist to an acquaintance, has a chat with former skaters.
‘These are my people’, says Bergsma. ‘That may sound a bit strange, but I always feel at home here. There are more interests in long track skating, there is always a bit of a tense atmosphere. The conviviality, the boys among each other, that is more important here.’
Years ago, he started calling his marathon colleagues “wretched.” “That was my catchphrase, somehow I thought it was funny,” he says. He doesn’t really know what he meant by that.
Hoogeveen thinks it is such a typical word that arises in a group of men. “You want to show each other affection, but you have to be tough.” Bergsma: ‘That’s true, it was glandular, but actually I just said that to my friends.’
Till the end
If it suits him, he will continue to drive in circles for years to come. He does not rule out the possibility that he will make another shot at the Games in four years. “Maybe I’ll get to 30,000 laps. Looking at the numbers like that, you might think it’s boring, but every game is different. You always try to push yourself to the limit and beat the competition.’