Atje Keulen-Deelstra

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Olympic medal record
Women’s Speed Skating
Silver 1972 Sapporo 1,000 m
Bronze 1972 Sapporo 1,500 m
Bronze 1972 Sapporo 3,000 m

Atje Keulen-Deelstra (born 31 December 1938) is a former speed skater.

Keulen-Deelstra was born in Grouw, the Netherlands. When she was 16 years old, Deelstra already won a junior title of Friesland. She practised many sports during those days, but speed skating was her favourite and she won many cash prizes in the Netherlands that way. When she married Jelle Keulen in 1962 and subsequently had three children between 1963 and 1966, her speed skating career seemed to be over.

However, when the Thialf arena opened in 1967 in Heerenveen, Keulen-Deelstra went there to work on a comeback. She quickly made much progress, but she was told over and over again that she was too old. Not a member of the Dutch speed skating team, she won the Dutch Allround Championships in 1970 at the age of 32, beating reputable Dutch skaters such as Stien Kaiser and Ans Schut. That same year, she became World Allround Champion. More successes soon followed when in 1972, she became Dutch, European, and World Allround Champion, a feat she then repeated the following two years (1973 and 1974). In addition, at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, she won one silver and two bronze medals.

In 1975, Keulen-Deelstra switched to marathon skating and she became Dutch Champion in that discipline four times; her last Dutch Marathon Championships title being in 1980 when she was 42 years old. In 1997, just a few weeks after having been injured in a traffic accident, Keulen-Deelstra participated in the Elfstedentocht.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, her daughter Boukje Keulen (born 2 December 1963) also was a successful skater. Boukje went from short track to long track ("regular") to marathon speed skating, just like many other speed skaters.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Keulen-Deelstra at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each:

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics 1972 (1,000 m) 1972 (1,500 m)
1972 (3,000 m)
World Allround 1970
1972
1973
1974
World Sprint 1973
1974		 1970
European Allround 1972
1973
1974
Dutch Allround 1970
1972
1973
1974		 1971

[edit] World records

Over the course of her career, Keulen-Deelstra skated 2 world records:

Distance Result Date Location
1,500 m 2:17.2 14 March 1970 Inzell
Mini combination 182.805 16 January 1972 Inzell

[edit] Sources


Awards
Preceded by
Maria Gommers		 Dutch Sportswoman of the Year
1970		 Succeeded by
Willy Stahle