Video: Dutch skaters injure fans at Olympic medal celebration in Heineken House

By Janene Pieters on February 22, 2018 - 08:26
Sven Kramer
Sven Kramer. (Photo: Oleg Bkhambri / Wikimedia Commons)

The medal celebration for the Dutch men's skating pursuit team went wrong in the Holland Heineken House (HHH) on Thursday night. Sven Kramer, Jan Blokhuijsen, Patrick Roest and Koen Verweij threw a large plate holding into the crowd, injuring two women, RTL Nieuws reports.

Neither woman was seriously injured, though one did have to go to hospital to have a cut sutured, HHH spokesperson Norbert Cappetti said to the broadcaster. The other was hit in the nose and was treated in a separate area of the HHH. 

It is part of the ceremony for medal winners to hand the the plate holding their medal to the crowd. The plate is then passed from hand to hand over the crowd to a wall where all the medals won by Dutch athletes are hung. The men's pursuit team was overenthusiastic and threw the plate into the audience too wildly.

The skaters went to the separate area where the women were taken to apologize to them in person. They also released a statement, translated from Dutch:

"At our ceremony last night in the Holland Heineken House two visitors were injured. We obviously find that very regrettable. After this incident we contacted the two ladies who were hit in the head by the big medal that we gave to the audience from the podium. Meanwhile we have understood that one of them had to go to the hospital and was treated there.

Fortunately both ladies are doing well but are very shaken. Let it be clear that we obviously never intended to cause this. We let them know that and in this way we also want to let the public know.

Hopefully everyone can enjoy the Olympics here in Peyonchang for another four days."

The statement was signed by all four involved athletes. 

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