Although also competing in road races, Jaap Oudkerk was at his best on the track. Initially, he excelled in the pursuit, winning World Championship medals with the amateurs in 1961 and 1962. With the Dutch team pursuit team, he won a bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. By that time, his focus had shifted towards stayering, an event he won at the 1964 amateur worlds. After turning professional the following year, Oudkerk also became the world’s best paid stayer. With his pacer Bertus de Graaf, he earned the 1969 world title in Antwerp. A year earlier, the two had also claimed gold at the European Championships. In 1970, Oudkerk suffered a horrible crash, costing him much of the season. A rival pacer that they had pipped for the world title in 1969 seemeingly intentionally rammed Oudkerk in a minor race in Hilversum. The pacer denied these charges, and the incident was never investigated. In 1966, Oudkerk married fellow Olympian Marianne Heemskerk, a silver medalist in swimming in Rome 1960. They had two children, but later divorced.
Netherlands