The most successful Dutch Olympian of all time had not won an international competition over 1,500 meters in two years, but rose again at the right time in the last season of her rich career and took her sixth gold medal out of five on a Monday evening in Beijing. consecutive Winter Games. It marked her twelfth Olympic medal in a span of sixteen years. She couldn’t quite grasp it afterwards. “This is insane, bizarre.” But she wasn’t completely surprised either. She pointed to her insides. “There is a little bit of confidence there. And that is growing.”
Ireen Wüst, 35 years old, has always been able to do something extra at the Olympic Games, that was already the case in Turin, in 2006, when she became the youngest Olympic skating champion ever at the age of nineteen as an uninhibited Brabant in the 3,000 meters. And she could repeat that trick every four years, up to the corona-free bubble of Beijing.
The complete program of the Winter Olympics
The 1,500 meters, according to many the most difficult distance in skating, was her favorite. She has won an Olympic medal at that distance five times in a row. Wüst has physical abilities that enable her to maintain a very high speed for a very long time. But perhaps her mental abilities, her gift of being able to fully concentrate on one tournament once every four years, were the deciding factor. For where others may be captivated by the grandeur of the Games, it is precisely then that she is at her calmest. Then after the starting gun. Because before that time, Wüst’s nerves were also coursing through her body. She even needs it to achieve a top performance, a talent reserved for those who are born for great success.
‘Something magical’
In recent years, it has sometimes not been possible without Olympic tension. As if she had lost a piece of herself, and suddenly found it again at the end of the Olympic cycle. After all those victories, those years in which she seemed unbeatable, she couldn’t bring herself to push every World Cup race anymore. But when she talks about the Games, her eyes sparkle. “It’s something magical,” she said on Monday, just after her race. “When I see those rings, I think: let’s go. The job here alone is fantastic.”
She felt good on the Olympic ice all week. The training sessions went well, the fast laps came easy. Her coach, former Olympic champion Gerard van Velde, didn’t really have to do anything. In fact; he learned more from her than the other way around, he said with a mixture of surprise and pride. “She was so focused, drove so neatly. People expected this from her, but you have to be able to carry that in your head. It was a privilege to work with her.”
Also read: ‘I now have the feeling that there is something after all, if you are dead’ (July 2020)
In recent weeks, her social circle has been getting smaller and smaller. That’s how important she makes the Games in her head. You shouldn’t call her anymore, she prepared her body and mind for a power explosion that is only possible once every four years. It is the professional seriousness of a professional who has known since Turin what it takes to put the rest of the world behind. Only Laetitia de Jong, her wife, got through to her in the last period.
Three bites of pasta
It’s not necessarily a pleasant feeling, that Olympic tunnel. On race day itself, she had three bites of pasta down her throat. She is completely on during the Games, smelling all the odors in a room until she almost gags. But she now knows that about herself. So she took a sports gel. At least she had enough energy when she had to be at her very best for a little less than two minutes
And she was. Conviction splashed from her movements. You didn’t have to be an expert on speed skating to see her moving aggressively across the Ice Ribbon right from the start. With the Canadian Ivanie Blondin she was awarded the ideal opponent. After 1,100 meters, Wüst was able to dive in her wake. To then fly into the last lap while maintaining speed. She thought: “Now I can take advantage. And then it’s mine.” Skating coach Jillert Anema saw it after ten meters. “She was surfing on ice. All the energy she put into it came back. She is a great sportswoman.”
She skated to the finish with two hands behind her back. She had also advised her teammate Kjeld Nuis to do so. By keeping your stroke calm, you were able to maintain your speed better. To her delight, she saw that competitors had started to imitate her. That’s what happens when you win that much. As she crossed the finish line, she threw her arms in the air. Ireen Wüst immediately felt that she had ridden her best 1,500 meters in years with a new Olympic record of 1.53.28 minutes. It seemed to have come naturally, as with the other five golds. On routine and raw talent to the title. Also now. Even the Japanese title favorite Miho Tagaki, still undefeated this season, bit himself.
In the coming days, Wüst will come into action two more times, in the team pursuit and the 1,000 meters. It can get even more beautiful. She will compete in her last race in Thialf on 12 March. Then it is time for the next phase of her life. She sees a mentor role for herself, not necessarily as a coach. She likes to pass on her knowledge. She knows what an Olympian needs. That is why in October she was nominated by the sports umbrella organization NOC-NSF as a candidate for the Athletes’ Committee of the International Olympic Committee. That election will take place during these Games.