Henk van der Grift explained

Headercolor:
  1. d7ecff
Country:Netherlands
Birth Date:1935 12, df=y
Birth Place:Breukelen, the Netherlands
Sport:Speed skating
Show-Medals:yes

Hendrik ("Henk") van der Grift (born 25 December 1935) is a retired Dutch speed skater.

At the 1960 Winter Olympics van der Grift finished 10th on the 500 m and fell on the 1500 m. Not satisfied with training facilities in the Netherlands, he lived in Norway for a while, working as a car mechanic. The superior training facilities in Norway paid off and van der Grift won silver at the 1961 European Allround Championships behind Olympic Champion Viktor Kosichkin. This was the first Dutch medal in international championships in eight years and it made van der Grift one of the favourites for the World Allround Championships.

And van der Grift delivered: in what turned out to be his greatest year, he became the 1961 World Allround Champion in Gothenburg. On the 500 m during those championships, he finished second behind Soviet sprinter Yevgeny Grishin. He then lost many points on the 5000 m, but he overcame that deficit by winning the 1500 m. On the final distance (the 10000 m), he seemed to be losing his lead, surrendering one second each lap to Viktor Kosichkin. But van der Grift managed to skate his final two laps fast enough to retain his lead, narrowly edging out Kosichkin by a margin of just 0.162 points (equivalent to 3.24 seconds of difference on the 10000 m).

His victory made van der Grift the first Dutch World Allround Champion in more than 55 years  - Coen de Koning had been the last in 1905. As a result of his victory, he was elected Dutch Sportsman of the year (a title shared with Judo giant Anton Geesink) and he received the 1961 Oscar Mathisen Award.

In 1962, van der Grift became Dutch Allround Champion, but he did not manage to successfully defend his World Champion title that year  - after three of the four distances, van der Grift was in second place behind Boris Stenin, but despite Stenin's bad result on the final distance and van der Grift overtaking Stenin, van der Grift still finished second behind Kosichkin. The following season, he fell ill and ended his speed skating career.

Personal records

Van der Grift has a score of 175.960 points on the Adelskalendern.

Tournament overview


Season
Dutch
Championships
Allround
European
Championships
Allround
Olympic
Games
World
Championships
Allround

1954-55

13th 500m
19th 5000m
20th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall(19th)
bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE

1955–56

30th 500m
20th 5000m
18th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall(24th)
bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE
1956–57 bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE
1957–58 bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE
1958–59 bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE bgcolor=#EEEEEE

1959–60
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
5th 500m
24th 5000m
12th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall(20th)

10th 500m
DNF 1500m

5th 500m
19th 5000m
5th 1500m
16th 10000m
11th overall

1960–61
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
500m
7th 5000m
1500m
7th 10000m
overall
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
500m
12th 5000m
1500m
10000m
overall

1961–62

500m
5000m
1500m
10000m
overall

500m
13th 5000m
1500m
8th 10000m
4th overall
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
500m
8th 5000m
1500m
8th 10000m
overall

1962–63
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
10th 500m
29th 5000m
23rd 1500m
DNQ 1000m
NC overall(24th)
bgcolor=#EEEEEE
19th 500m
38th 5000m
28th 1500m
DNQ 10000m
NC overall(30th)

source:[1] [2] [3] [4]

Medals won

Championship Gold
Silver
Bronze
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 0
1 1 0

Dutch records established

Nr. Event Result Date Location
1 1500 meter 2:23.2 25 February 1962 Amsterdam
2 Big combination 204.368 25 February 1962 Amsterdam
3 500 meter 43.2 10 March 1962 Amsterdam
4 5000 meter 8:18.9 10 March 1962 Amsterdam
5 1500 meter 2:18.6 11 March 1962 Amsterdam
6 10.000 meter 17:58.2 11 March 1962 Amsterdam
7 Big combination193.200 11 March 1962 Amsterdam
8 1000 meter 1:30.7 6 November 1963 Deventer
[5]

Note: Prior to season 1967–1968 Dutch national records would be recognized only if skated in the Netherlands[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Henk van der Grift. speedskatingstats.com . 16 November 2022.
  2. Web site: Henk van der Grift. speedskatingnews.info . 23 November 2022.
  3. Web site: Henk van der Grift. ISU.org. 23 November 2022.
  4. Web site: Henk van der Grift . schaatsstatistieken.nl. 28 January 2021.
  5. Bijlsma c.s. 1997, pp. 449-458.
  6. Bijlsma c.s. 1997, p. 448.