Irene Schouten has won her third gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. She convincingly won the mass start part. As national coach, Jan Coopmans from Baarlo is responsible for the mass start.
No medal was taken by the Netherlands for the men.
Women
The women had the best chance of winning medals beforehand. With Irene Schouten and Marijke Groenewoud, Coopmans was able to select two world champions for the mass start. Unlike the men, Schouten and Groenewoud could count on their sprint. Halfway through the race it went wrong for Groenewoud, she fell and was immediately eliminated for the medals. All attacks were then recalled, resulting in the women’s race ending in a bunch sprint. In this, Schouten was the best ahead of Ivanie Blondin and Francesca Lollobrigida.
Attackers
With the men, Sven Kramer and Jorrit Bergsma managed to reach the final with great difficulty, where the other favorites also managed to qualify. Because Coopmans selected two attackers for the Olympic Games, the Dutch men had to have a hard final race with many attacks.
Last race
Indeed, as expected, it rained attacks from countries that did not have a sprinter for a possible final sprint. The Netherlands also tried. Sven Kramer, who was driving his last Olympic race, attacked twice. And Jorrit Bergsma also tried several times. However, the attacks were always neutralized by the Belgian Bart Swings, one of the top favorites for the gold. At the start of the last lap Bergsma was in the lead, but when the sprinters increased the speed Bergsma was unable to keep up. In the final sprint it was Bart Swings who gave Belgium its first gold at the Winter Olympics since 1948.
National coach Coopmans saw Jorrit Bergsma eventually finish ninth and Sven Kramer was 15th in his last Olympic race.
Two medals
With the gold medal, Coopmans closes the Olympic Games with a gold and a bronze medal as national coach. He won the bronze medal with the women’s team pursuit. The mass start was the last part in which the Netherlands had a serious chance of obtaining a medal. As a result, the Netherlands will probably close the Winter Olympics with eight gold, five silver and four bronze medals
Read also: Bronze consolation prize for national coach Coopmans at the Games