Jaap Eden

Jaap Eden
Full name	Jacobus Johannes Eden
nation	Netherlands
birthday	October 19, 1873
place of birth	Groningen
date of death	February 2, 1925
Place of death	Haarlem
Career
discipline	Speed ​​skating
End of career	1915
Medal table
M-World Championship medals 3 × 0 × 0 ×
All around world championships gold Amsterdam 1893 All-around gold Hamar 1895 All-around gold St. Petersburg 1896 All-around

Jacobus Johannes "Jaap" Eden (born October 19, 1873 in Groningen , † February 2, 1925 in Haarlem ) was a speed skater and cyclist from the Netherlands . In 1895 he became double world champion in these two sports and is the only athlete who succeeded to this day (2016).

Childhood and youth

Jaap Eden was born to a physical education teacher, his mother came from a middle-class family. After the mother died two weeks after he was born, Jaap Eden was placed with his grandmother, who ran a hotel and died six years later. Then he came to an aunt. Her husband ran a nursery that Eden worked on, and since there wasn't so much to do in winter, he had plenty of time to speed skate.

Speed ​​skating

Jaap Eden's sporting talent showed up at the age of 15. His first trainer was Klaas Pander , who at the time was considered the best Dutch speed skater. In December 1890, Eden achieved his first success in a short course championship (on a 160-meter circuit). At the age of 17 he was admitted to the world championship. Since there was still no international association in 1890, this was carried out by the Amsterdam Ice Skating Club, although only two foreign runners appeared. Eden achieved third and fourth places over half a mile and a full mile. A few weeks later, Eden also ran at the European Championships in Hamburg , but without any notable success. The world championships in 1892 were not held due to unfavorable weather conditions, while the European championships were only frequented by Austrian runners. Eden won the "Prince of Orange Cup" in England and with it his first international competition.

The International Ice Skating Union (ISU) was founded in 1892 and held the World Championships again in Amsterdam the following year . Eden was world champion on three of four running routes.

Two days earlier, Eden had also become Dutch champions twice in the 1,500 meter and 5,000 meter courses. His winning time over 1500 meters of 2:35 minutes is the first world record registered by the ISU in speed skating (the time of 9:16 minutes over 5000 meters was the second world record).

Cycling

Jaap Eden as a cyclist (1896)

In 1892 Jaap Eden joined the Haarlem cycling club "De Kettinggangers" so that he could also train in summer. On April 30, 1893, he won his first race. Three weeks later, he defeated the then best Dutch road driver Cees Witteveen in a 25-kilometer race and set a new record. That year he competed in a total of 20 races, all of which he won, and became a three-time national champion. 1894 he became vice-world champion in sprint , 1895 world champion.

This success was quickly marketed: the Droste chocolate factory in Haarlem produced chocolate bars named after him. A cigar factory created the Ons Jaap variety and paid a fee for every cigar he smoked. As a result, Eden became a cigar lover, who, according to contemporary journalists, even smoked a cigar on laps of honor after cycling races.

In 1896 Eden went to Paris as a professional cyclist , where he received the equivalent of 40,000 guilders in entry fees in one year and therefore even turned down a lucrative invitation to the USA . He also signed contracts with Humber and Dunlop , which brought him additional money, so that, according to estimates, he earned a total of 100,000 guilders in one year. In Bordeaux he sets a world record over 1000 meters. He quickly became an equal opponent of the then cycling stars Edmond Jacquelin and Paul Bourillon . He was nicknamed La Locomotive , also because he won his victories with sheer strength and not tactics.

Gravestone of Jaap Eden in Haarlem

In Paris, Eden was at the height of his career, but he also enjoyed the good life with nightclub visits and changing woman acquaintances. On the other hand, he came into conflict with the Dutch Cycling Federation because he refused to take part in the World Track Championships in Copenhagen . As early as 1893, the sports official Pim Mulier complained that Eden was not “calm” enough for an athlete, and he also criticized Eden's fondness for cigars. His way of life soon had consequences, both healthily and financially.

In August 1897 Jaap Eden won his last race in the Netherlands with the Amsterdam Grand Prix . Then there were no further successes, and a US tour also turned into a fiasco. In 1902 he ended his sporting career, only to attempt a comeback two years later, without success. Ten years later, at the age of 41, he entered a show race again because he needed money.

After the sport

Jaap Eden married in 1915 and had a son. In October 1915, on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as an athlete, he was celebrated at a banquet in Amsterdam. He was offered a cigar shop, with which he could earn his living in the future, after he had already performed in variety theaters to earn money.

In the following years, Eden almost never spoke about his sporting successes, as his wife later reported in an interview. The memorabilia from his active days as an athlete gradually disappeared as Eden sold them to finance his alcohol consumption. He died in 1925 after having been ridiculed as a sad figure in Haarlem's bars for years.

In March 1922 friends founded a Jaap Eden Comité to secure the education of Eden's son Jaap (II.). He successfully finished school and became a pilot in the Dutch Air Force . In May 1940 he was able to distinguish himself in the German attack on the Netherlands and later received an order of bravery.

memory

In 1928, Jaap Eden was reburied in a permanent burial site and friends financed a monumental tombstone.

In 1961 the "Jaap Eden Ijsbanen" was put into operation in Amsterdam. It was officially opened by Jaap Eden III, the grandson of Jaap Eden.

In 2015, also in the presence of the grandson, a commemorative plaque was unveiled on Amsterdam's Museumplein . This was where the ice rink was located in 1893, where Jaap Eden won his first world title in speed skating.

In 2019 a Dutch 5 euro commemorative coin was released in memory of Jaap Eden.

literature

• Sports album of the cycling world , 7th year, 1908
• Theo Stevens: Jaap Eden (1873-1925): The Tragic Life of a Sportsman . In: Andrew Ritchie / Rob van der Plas (eds.): Cycle History: Proceedings of the 12th International Cycling History Conference Sanremo / Pigny 2001 . Cycle Publishing / Van der Plas Publications, San Francisco, ISBN 1-892495-07-4 , pp. 130-133 (English).
• Daniel Rewijk: Jaap: een wondermens as vader . Bureau MDJ, 2018, ISBN 978-90-828175-0-8 (Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Jaap Eden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• History - Jaap Eden IJsbaan. In: jaapeden.nl. Retrieved June 8, 2016 . 
• GW Overdijkink: Eden, Jacobus Johannes (1873-1925). Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland, November 12, 2013, accessed June 8, 2016 (Dutch). 
• Statistics at speed skating news
• Jaap Eden in the Radsportseiten.net database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sportgeschiedenis.nl - de alternatieve bron voor sportnieuws. In: sportgeschiedenis.nl. Retrieved June 8, 2016 (Dutch). 
2. ↑ Stevens: Jaap Eden , p. 131
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Stevens: Jaap Eden , p. 132
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Stevens: Jaap Eden , p. 133
5. ↑ Jurryt van de Vooren: kleinzoon van Jaap Eden opende in 1961 de Jaap Edenbaan. (No longer available online.) In: sportgeschiedenis.nl. December 2, 2011, archived from the original on June 8, 2016 ; Retrieved June 8, 2016 (Dutch). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Plaquette op Museumplein voor Jaap Eden. In: schaatsen.nl. March 10, 2016, accessed June 8, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Jaap Eden 5 Euro Coin