Jan Charisius

Jan Charisius participated in the European Speed Skating Championships in Oslo in 1951, placing 8th in the 500 m, but he was unable to qualify for the final 10000 m. In 1952 we was selected to skate 500 m at the Oslo Olympics, but had to give up after a fall. In 1954 he finished third in the famous Eleven Cities Tour (“Elfstedentocht”), a 200 km race in his home province of Friesland. During the summer, Charisus was also a decent cyclist, and he won several provincial titles.

Charisius went on to take up a long career as a speed skating official and team leader. He was involved in two Olympic Winter Games as Chef d’Equipe for the Dutch Olympic team; in Innsbruck, Austria in 1964 and in Grenoble, France in 1968. Jan Charisius acted as an ISU Referee for more than two decades from the early 1970-es. He was an elected ISU Speed Skating Technical Committee member from 1984 to 1992 before being elected as the Technical Committee Chair in 1992, a position which he held for six years. Charisius was also a Koninklijke Nederlandsche Schaatsenrijders Bond (KNSB) Council Member from 1982 and Vice President from 1995 until 1999.

Jan Charisius passed away while staying at his vacation house in Hodalsfoss near Fagernes, Norway.

Personal Bests: 500 – 45.4 (1953); 1500 – 2:24.6 (1953); 5000 – 9:00.4 (1951); 10000 – 18:50.0 (1951).