Yvonne van Gennip

Yvonne van Gennip

Yvonne van Gennip (1987)
Personal information
Born	(1964-05-01) 1 May 1964 (age 52) Haarlem, Netherlands
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Sport	Speed skating
Club	IJsclub Haarlem
Turned pro	1983
Medal record Women's speed skating Representing the  Netherlands Olympic Games 1988 Calgary 1500 m 1988 Calgary 3000 m 1988 Calgary 5000 m World Championships 1988 Skien Allround 1987 West Allis Allround 1989 Lake Placid Allround European Championships 1985 Groningen Allround 1986 Geihus Allround 1987 Groningen Allround 1988 Kongsberg Allround 1991 Sarajevo Allround World Junior Championships 1982 Innsbruck Allround 1981 Elverum Allround

Yvonne Maria Therèse van Gennip (born 1 May 1964) is one of the most successful female Dutch all-round speed skaters. Her main success dates from the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, where she unexpectedly won three gold medals. She was the most successful athlete at the 1988 Winter Olympics, along with Matti Nykänen of Finland.

After she had injured her foot, and had surgery less than two months before the games, the East German women were heavily favoured to win the distances over 500 meters. But Van Gennip smashed the world record by almost 5 seconds to win the 3000 metres, beat her personal record by almost 4 seconds to win the 1500 metres, and was almost 7 seconds faster than her own world record time to win the 5000 metres as well.

Van Gennip participated in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville as well, but did not win a medal. She won a silver medal in the 1988 world championships, and bronze medals in the 1987 and 1989 world championships.