Sjoukje Dijkstra

Sjoukje Dijkstra
Full name	Sjoukje Rosalinde Dijkstra
nation	Netherlands
birthday	January 28, 1942
place of birth	Akkrum
size	169 cm
Weight	54 kg
Career
discipline	Single run
Trainer	Arnold Gerschwiler
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 3 × 1 × 1 × EM medals 5 × 1 × 0 ×
winter Olympics silver Squaw Valley 1960 Ladies gold Innsbruck 1964 Ladies  World figure skating championships bronze Colorado Springs 1959 Ladies silver Vancouver 1960 Ladies gold Prague 1962 Ladies gold Cortina d'Ampezzo 1963 Ladies gold Dortmund 1964 Ladies  European figure skating championships silver Davos 1959 Ladies gold Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1960 Ladies gold Berlin 1961 Ladies gold Geneva 1962 Ladies gold Budapest 1963 Ladies gold Grenoble 1964 Ladies

Sjoukje Rosalinde Dijkstra (spr. Schaukie Deikstra , born January 28, 1942 in Akkrum , Friesland ) is a former Dutch figure skater who started in a single run . She is the Olympic champion from 1964 , the world champion from 1962 to 1964 and the European champion from 1960 to 1964 .

Career

Sjoukje Dijkstra is the daughter of the speed skater Luitzen "Lou" Dijkstra (1909–1964), who took part in the 1936 Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . She started figure skating at the age of six and was quickly recognized as a talent. At the age of twelve she took part in her first European championship . Trained in London by Arnold Gerschwiler , the uncle of world figure skating champion Hans Gerschwiler , she began to improve continuously from then on, together with her somewhat older compatriot Joan Haanappel . After she had finished second in the national championships behind Haanappel four times, she won her first national championship title in 1959 before her competitor. It was the first of six national championship titles in a row. In the same year she also won her first international medals. At the European Championships in Davos she was runner-up behind the Austrian Hanna Walter and at the World Championships in Colorado Springs she won the bronze medal behind Carol Heiss and Walter. A year later, in the 1960 Olympic year, Dijkstra won her first major international title. At the European Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , she was European champion in front of Regine Heitzer from Austria and her Dutch compatriot Haanappel. It was the first European championship title in figure skating for the Netherlands. At the World Championships in Vancouver , Dijkstra was runner-up behind Carol Heiss. She experienced the same scenario at the Olympic Games in Squaw Valley , when she won the silver medal behind the seemingly indomitable American. It was her second Olympic Games after 1956 , when she finished twelfth. Carol Heiss resigned after her Olympic victory in 1960 and her last world championship title, and so the way was clear for Dijkstra, who from now on dominated the world competition and won all the competitions she competed. In 1961 she defended her European championship title in Berlin with a unanimous judge's verdict before Regine Heitzer. That year, the World Cup was canceled due to the US team's plane crash . This probably cost her a world title.

In 1962, Dijkstra won the European Championship title for the third time in a row , again with unanimity in front of Regine Heitzer (Austria), who was to be her main competitor several times. In the same year she won her first world title - which she succeeded just as clearly in Prague as at the European Championships, but this time before the Canadian Wendy Griner . It was the first gold for the Netherlands at a world figure skating championship. In 1963 she was able to defend both titles. At the European Championships in Budapest she won ahead of French Nicole Hassler and at the World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo unanimously ahead of Regine Heitzer. With 1964 came her third Olympic year and it was the triumphant conclusion of her career. First she won her fifth European title in Grenoble before Heitzer, then her third World Cup title in a row in Dortmund , again unanimously before Heitzer and finally Dijkstra was unanimously Olympic champion in Innsbruck under the eyes of the Dutch royal family before the Austrian . Their victory meant the Netherlands' first Olympic gold at the Winter Games.

Dijkstra's greatest strengths were her compulsory figures , but she was also an athletic and strong freestyle skier who could show double axels and jumped pirouettes in high quality and whose movements were fluid and with little effort.

After she left amateur sport in 1964, she switched to the professionals and toured with Holiday On Ice until 1972. She married the circus trainer Karl Kossmayer. with whom she has two daughters, Rosalie and Katja. Both tried their hand at figure skating at first, but then preferred a career in the circus. In 1985 Dijkstra became a consultant for the Dutch Ice Skating Federation. At times she is a commentator for Dutch television.

Results

Competition / year	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964
winter Olympics			12.				2.				1.
World championships		21st	16.	12.	16.	3.	2.		1.	1.	1.
European championships	19th		7th		6th	2.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.
Dutch championships	3.	2.	2.	2.	2.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.

Web links

• Sjoukje Dijkstra in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )