Rintje Ritsma

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Rintje Ritsma Beer van Lemmer
Rintje Ritsma in 2006

Country	Netherlands
Date of birth	April 13, 1970 (1970-04-13) (age 38)
Place of birth	Lemmer, Netherlands
Turned pro	1988
Website	www.rintjeritsma.nl

Men’s Speed Skating
Olympic medal record
Silver	1994 Lillehammer	1,500 m
Silver	1998 Nagano	5,000 m
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer	5,000 m
Bronze	1998 Nagano	1,500 m
Bronze	1998 Nagano	10,000 m
Bronze	2006 Turin	team pursuit
World Championships
Men's speed skating
Gold	1995 Baselga di Pinè	allround
Gold	1996 Inzell	allround
Gold	1997 Warsaw	1,500 m
Gold	1997 Warsaw	5,000 m
Gold	1999 Hamar	allround
Gold	2001 Budapest	allround
Silver	1997 Warsaw	10,000 m
Silver	1998 Heerenveen	allround
Silver	1998 Calgary	5,000 m
Silver	2003 Gothenburg	allround
Bronze	1993 Hamar	allround
Bronze	1994 Gothenburg	allround
Bronze	1999 Heerenveen	1,500 m
Bronze	2000 Milwaukee	allround
European Championships
Men's speed skating
Gold	1994 Hamar	allround
Gold	1995 Heerenveen	allround
Gold	1996 Heerenveen	allround
Gold	1998 Helsinki	allround
Gold	1999 Heerenveen	allround
Gold	2000 Hamar	allround
Silver	1997 Heerenveen	allround
Silver	2003 Heerenveen	allround
Bronze	1992 Heerenveen	allround
Bronze	1993 Heerenveen	allround

Robert Rintje Ritsma (born April 13, 1970 in Lemmer) is a Dutch long track speed skater. His nickname is the Beer van Lemmer, which translates to the Bear from Lemmer.

He has won the World Allround Championships 4 times. He won this title in 1995, 1996,1999 and 2001; he was second in 1998 and 2003; he was third in 1993, 1994 and 2000.

He has won the European Allround Championships a record 6 times: 1994-1996 and 1998-2000.

He has won two silver and four bronze medals at the Winter Olympics, from the 1994, 1998 and 2006 Games.

He also stood at the top of the alltime world ranking, the Adelskalender, for a long time (1,125 days in total).

[edit] World records

Over the course of his career, Ritsma skated 4 world records:

Distance	Result	Date	Location
1,500 m	1:51.60	8 January 1994	Hamar
Big combination	156.201	9 January 1994	Hamar
1,500 m	1.48.88	20 December 1997	Heerenveen
Big combination	152.651	7 February 1999	Hamar

[edit] Personal records

Distance	Result	Date	Location
500 m	35.90	20 February 1999	Hamar
1,000 m	1:10.19	20 February 1999	Hamar
1,500 m	1:45.86	19 February 2002	Hamar
3,000 m	3:49.29	11 March 2004	Heerenveen
5,000 m	6:20.26	19 November 2005	Salt Lake City
10,000 m	13:28.19	17 February 1998	Hamar