Angry, Joy Beune strode through the tunnel under the ice of Thialf. Moments earlier, she was sitting in the center court with her face in her hands, then threw her track jacket on the ground. It was disbelief, sadness, anger.
The reigning world champion, the woman who had not yet lost a match in the World Cup circuit this season, the skater who was given chances to become Irene Schouten’s successor as winner of three Olympic gold medals, will not be allowed to participate in the Olympic 1,500 meters in Milan-Cortina in February.
Beune (1.53.21) was defeated three times in the 1,500 meters, first in a direct duel with Marijke Groenewoud (1.53.05), then by the dueling Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (1.53.02) and Femke Kok (1.52.03). They may represent the Dutch team in the skating mile instead of Beune.
After Stijn van de Bunt’s two stayer victories, it is the second big surprise of the Olympic qualifying tournament – and the first deception for a favorite. “We are really going through it together. I didn’t really know what to say to Joy. It just hurts a lot that you are now not allowed to go to the Games at your favorite distance,” said her coach Martin ten Hove, defeated.
Lifebuoy
Rijpma-de Jong and Kok, teammates with the commercial Reggeborgh team, simultaneously raised their arms in the air after the finish to celebrate their qualification. Kok, the sprinter who had already qualified for the 500 and 1,000 meters, started like a rocket and was one second ahead one lap before the end. But Rijpma-de Jong had the better final lap and side by side the two women drove themselves to an Olympic starting ticket.
“This is really a dream scenario. We were each other’s lifebuoy,” said Kok, referring to the fact that she first acted as a target for Rijpma-de Jong, who then pulled her along to the finish on the final straight. While Beune and Rijpma-de Jong were tense with tension because it had to happen at such a distance for them, Kok had relaxed about Monday evening, she said. “I was curious about how it would go and had nothing to lose. This is just a bonus.”
She already showed that Kok can ride a good 1,500 meters earlier this season when she improved the track record of Rijpma-de Jong in Thialf in a training race. At the same time, it was only Kok’s fourth 1,500 meters in four years. But her teammate was not surprised by Kok’s time: “I knew that Femke had shown in training that she could handle this,” said Rijpma-de Jong. Now the pure sprinter is also going to the Games as a medal candidate in the 1,500 meters. “Who knows, bizarre,” said Kok.
Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (left) and Femke Kok celebrate their first and second place in the 1,500 meters.
Photo Sem van der Wal/ANP
For Rijpma-de Jong the relief was great. She finished a disappointing seventh in the 1,000 meters last Friday, then decided to withdraw from the 3,000 meters as a precaution and put all her money on the skating mile. “This was with a knife to my throat, purely based on fighter’s mentality. Now I have shown what I have in me,” she sighed emotionally.
Rijpma-de Jong sometimes wants too much, she said, causing her to mess up her timing and blow herself up. Afterwards she can be particularly hard on herself. “It hasn’t always worked out this season, you keep disappointing yourself. It’s so nice that today the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.” Now she is making her fourth Olympic participation, and Rijpma-de Jong can try to give an even better follow-up to her bronze medal in the 1,500 meters from four years ago.
With her qualification, Rijpma-de Jong also freed the KNSB selection committee from a difficult problem: because she had not yet won an individual Olympic starting ticket before the 1,500 meters, but is an important part of the team pursuit, in which the Netherlands has a chance of winning gold, she should possibly have been selected – at the expense of another skater. That is no longer necessary.
‘Pussy rules’
Afterwards, emotions went in all directions in Heerenveen. Only the number three of the 1,500 meters, Marijke Groenewoud, stood sober in the mixed zone. Still, it had been more exciting than she could tell, she admitted. “This was very close. I rode a personal record, but that was also necessary. The level is simply super high.”
Beune has no choice but to focus on the 5,000 meters, the distance for which she can still qualify on Tuesday. She previously qualified for the 3,000 meters and will be selected for the team pursuit. Her friend Kjeld Nuis, who qualified for the 1,000 meters by coming third, in Beune’s defense called the KNSB selection rules “nonsense” and “ridiculous shitty rules”.
That didn’t change the outcome. Beune will be disappointed with her mistake in the first round, after fumbling with the zipper of her suit while her ride was already in progress. “It just crossed my mind: if she drops now, she will get a pointer,” said her coach Martin ten Hove, who indicated that Beune sensed immediately after her ride that her time would not be enough. Furthermore, it remained a matter of guessing what Beune’s thoughts were: the defeated world champion did not appear again.
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