For the last time, about 30 supporters of Irene Schouten took the orange scarf from the closet to take with them on the bus. The salute of honor that the Dutch skating world gave to the three-time Olympic champion from Hoogkarspel on Saturday evening in a packed Thialf, also immediately meant farewell to the supporters’ guild. “She is the queen and she will remain the queen.”
On Saturday morning, 28 Irene fans boarded in Wervershoof to travel to Heerenveen. The National Allround and National Sprint Championships were held there, but the main program for the West Frisian delegation only followed a day full of skating distances. They came to honor their favorite, their own Irene Schouten – who surprised them last week by announcing her retirement.
For driver Jos Kieftenburg from Wervershoof, it was the ‘sixth or seventh’ time that he made such a ride with like-minded people. “During Dutch or European championships, for example. Those are always very pleasant days. It’s a shame that this is the last time we go to Irene. It’s suddenly over, quite strange. Everyone was talking about her farewell on the bus. And Although everyone thinks it’s a shame, everyone also understands it. In general, it is seen as a wise decision. She longs for other things, that is understandable.”
‘Irene is one of us’
And so the orange scarves bearing the name of the skating champion were tied one more time. “She is the queen and she will remain the queen,” Kieftenburg says. “Of course there are plenty of other skaters to follow, but Irene is one of us. That’s different.”
The group of supporters was briefed by the organization an hour before the dignified ceremony in the Thialf skating temple to help hand out no fewer than 12,000 tulips. These were thrown to Irene as she completed her lap of honour. The sender? The Schoutens’ family business, of course.
Comforted in Salt Lake City
Even more orange scarves in the Thialf parking lot. And even more West Friesland in Friesland. Two hours before the ceremony, Ina and Tiny Schouten park the car. Better known as Aunt Ina and Aunt Tiny. “We are her mother’s sisters, there were ten of us at home.” They willingly pose from a huge canvas on which their niece is thanked for the golden skating moments. “It’s a shame for us that she’s stopping, we had some nice outings,” says Tiny. “But of course we support her in her choice.”
On this day of farewell, memories return to Salt Lake City. “Then she was put in the wringer by some Japanese. She was furious afterwards. Then I comforted her.”