Former figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra (82) passed away, Dutch first Winter Games champion

NOS Skating•today, 6:25 PM

Sjoukje Dijkstra has passed away at the age of 82. The figure skater, born in Akkrum in 1942, gave the Netherlands the first ever gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 1964 and is one of the most successful athletes our country has produced.

Initially she was in the shadow of her training companion and friend Joan Haanappel (who died on February 24 of this year), who was one year older, who won four national titles in a row, but after the tables were turned for the first time at the 1959 National Championships, she rose Dijkstra to great, inimitable heights.

Dijkstra did not rely on elegance and grace, but that was more than compensated for by her enormous jumping power. In addition to six national (1959-1964), five European (1960-1964) and three world titles (1962-1964), this also brought her Olympic fame.

At her Olympic debut in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the fourteen-year-old from Amstelveen finished twelfth, but four years later she was already on the podium in Squaw Valley with silver. In 1964, the daughter of former Olympic long-track skater Lou Dijkstra won Olympic gold, a first for a Dutchman at the Winter Games.

After that triumph, which earned her the appointment as Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau, Dijkstra opted for the money and switched to Holiday on Ice, the ice revue with which she was associated until 1972.

In December 2005, the six-time Sportswoman of the Year (1959-1964), together with several other Dutch sports legends, received the first Fanny Blankers-Koen Trophy, the award for which only the greatest athletes in our country are eligible.