Hein Vergeer
Hein Vergeer in 1985
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Henricus Coenradus Nicolaas Vergeer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Dutch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
2 May 1961 Haastrecht, Netherlands |
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| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Speed skating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 1980 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Henk Gemser | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1988 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 500 m: 37.79 (1987) 1000 m: 1:14.62 (1988) 1500 m: 1:53.88 (1987) 3000 m: 4:01.21 (1987) 5000 m: 6:54.91 (1986) 10 000 m: 14:39.05 (1986) |
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Medal record
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Henricus Coenradus Nicolaas "Hein" Vergeer (born 2 May 1961) is a Dutch former speed skater who became both European and World Allround Champion in both 1985 (in which year he also became National Sprint Champion) and 1986 (in which year he also became National Allround Champion).
Hein Vergeer was a dominant allround skater, but after having recovered from an injury, he was never able to reach that same level again. Because of this, he was unable to fulfil his wish of winning an Olympic medal – at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Vergeer competed in the 500 m, the 1,000 m, and the 1,500 m, but his best result was a mere fifteenth place. He had also competed in those same three distances at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo four years earlier, but did not do much better than with a tenth place as his best result. Unfortunately for Vergeer, his best years were in between those two Winter Olympics.
Despite his dominance, Vergeer never managed to skate any world records. This could label him as a "true" allround skater – very good at all distances, but never the very best in any single distance.
Vergeer lived during his skating years in Haastrecht, a town where Leo Visser, another former World Champion speed skating, also used to live. Both skaters used to train at the skating club STV Lekstreek.
Back in the days of Vergeer's dominance, speed skating was not very lucrative, so Vergeer did what lots of other top-skaters in those days did as well – he used his fame as a stepping stone to a career in marketing and communication. Vergeer currently is an advisor of several ventures and he organises events.
Both in 2006 and 2007, Vergeer participated in the Holiday on Ice show called Fantasy.
An overview of medals won by Vergeer at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (Notes) lists the official world records on the dates that Vergeer skated his personal records.
Source: www.isu.org
Note that Vergeer's personal record on the 3,000 m was not a world record because Leo Visser skated 3:59.27 that same day at the same tournament. Also note that when Vergeer set his personal record on the 10,000 m, Geir Karlstad set a new world record of 14:12.14 that same day at the same tournament.
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Wikipedia