Relay (3,000 metres), Women

Back in 2018, the Dutch relay team had won a remarkable bronze medal. Racing in the B-final, they broke the world record and then watched from the side as two teams were disqualified from the final, leaving them the bronze. One of these team members was Lara van Ruijven. In 2019, she would become the first Dutchwoman to win an individual world title (in the 500 m), but a year later would make the news for a much sadder reason.

On 25 June 2020, during a training camp near Font-Romeu, Van Ruijven fell ill with an autoimmune disease and was transported to hospital. Despite being placed in a medically-induced coma and undergoing surgery, the 27-year-old passed away on 10 July in Perpignan. The Dutch team, obviously hit hard by this event, commemorated their teammate in the coming seasons by wearing small hearts on their suits with a panther skin motif, referring to her nickname within the team, “Panther Lara”.

The Dutch relay team was intent on making the best tribute to Van Ruijven by claiming the Olympic gold in Beijing. With two-time Olympic champion Schulting in their midst, as well as the 2021 world title under their belt, this was no pipe dream, either. They were able to comfortably race their semi-final along with China, as Poland was outpowered and Italy, with star skater Arianna Fontana, eliminated themselves with a fall. The other semi-final was much more closely contested, with all four teams finishing within 0.2 seconds, and with six-time champion Korea and seven-time medalist Canada coming out on top.

The Dutch quartet controlled most of the final. With 10 laps left, Qu Chunyu made great use of an exchange to pass Xandra Velzeboer on the inside, with Korea following suit. Velzeboer then immediately restored the previous order by overtaking both on the outside and using that speed to open up a small gap. The other three nations needed five laps to close the gap again, only for Velzeboer to re-open it again. Schulting then brought it home for the gold, as Korea emerged victorious over China and Canada.

As the four Dutch skaters entered the podium for the flower ceremony after the race, the four cheered to celebrate their gold medal – then all blew a kiss to the sky to thank Lara van Ruijven who, in their words, “had been cheering them on from the sky”.