The Dutch winter Olympics team is a bit richer now after the women short track team won gold in the 3000 metres relay event. Yara van Kerkhof, Selma Poutsma, Suzanne Schulting and Xandra Velzeboer established a new Olympic record and ended up in front of the South Korean and Chinese teams.
This is the twelfth medal for the Netherlands in these Olympic Games: the Dutch athletes have already secured six golds, fours silvers and two bronzes, all but one in either speedskating or short track competitions.
Making Groningen proud
Half of the winning Dutch quartet has strong ties with Groningen.
Suzanne Schulting, who was born and raised in the area, is at her third medal in Beijing, having already won individual gold at the 1000 metres race and secured second place in the 500 metres event. At 24, Schulting is already at her second Olympics and was elected Dutch Sportswoman of the year in 2018.
20-year-old RUG student Xandra Velzeboer, on the other hand, is at her first Olympic expedition but comes from a family of short track athletes. Her aunt Monique won gold, silver and bronze in the Calagry Winter Olympics of 1988, where short track was still only a demonstration sport. Velzeboer’s father Mark and other aunt Simone also participated to the 1992 Albertville Olympics, alongside Monique.
The next speedskating and short track events will be held on Tuesday 15th.
