Sjoukje Dijkstra - Career

Career

Dijkstra became the dominant ladies' single skater following the retirement of Carol Heiss in 1960, who took gold medals in Winter Olympics and World Championships that year to Dijkstra's silver medals in both competitions. Dijkstra won all the World and European Championships held between 1961 and 1964 (1961 World Championships was cancelled after Sabena Flight 548 Crash). Her win at the 1964 Winter Olympics was the first gold for the Netherlands at the Winter Olympics. She is the last person to have won Olympic gold medal after winning a silver or bronze medal in a prior Olympic in Ladies Figure Skating. After 1964, she turned professional and toured with Holiday On Ice from 1964 to 1972. She became the advisor to the figure skating section of the Dutch Skating Federation in 1985. Currently she does commentary for Dutch television.

In 2005, she was awarded the Fanny Blankers-Koen Trophy, for her contributions to Dutch sports.

During her competitive career, Dijkstra trained in Richmond, London with Arnold Gerschwiler. While her main strength was compulsory figures, she was also a very powerful and athletic free skater who could perform high-quality double axels and flying spins, and who skated with easy movement and strong flow. At 1.68 metres, she was fairly tall for a skater, and one magazine article noted that "she is much more slender in person than she appears on the ice".