Figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra dead at 82; Won first Dutch winter Olympics gold medal

Former figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra has died at the age of 82, her daughter, Katja Kossmayer, confirmed in a post on Facebook. Dijkstra won an Olympic gold medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, becoming the first Dutch athlete to ever win a gold medal during the Winter Olympic Games.

She also won a silver medal four years earlier, and secured three world titles and five European championships. She was chosen as the female athlete of the year in the Netherlands six times.

Another icon from Dutch figure skating, Joan Haanappel, passed away in February. Dijkstra reacted with deep sadness at the time. The two were good friends.

"Dear everyone, with a lot of pain and sadness I had to say goodbye to my dear mother, Sjoukje Kossmayer Dijkstra," Kossmayer wrote on Facebook on Thursday. She said she and her mother had a great relationship "up until the end."

Dijkstra was born in Akkrum, Friesland, and grew up in Amstelveen, Noord-Holland. She is considered to be one of the legends in a sport in which the Netherlands has never played a significant role. As a figure skater, she was globally recognized as a top talent in the 1960s. She was crowned world champion in 1962, 1963 and 1964, and became a five-time European champion.

But above all, she won Olympic gold at the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, and a silver in Squaw Valley in 1960. She made her debut in the Olympics at the age of 14 in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. She later stated that the sporting event laid the foundation for her great successes.

Her golden performance in Austria in 1964 had a special touch. After she won gold at the Winter Games, the door opened further for Dutch athletes. In 1968, three gold medals followed in long track speed skating, with Carry Geijssen, Kees Verkerk and Ans Schut standing on the podium. The only other Dutch figure skater to medal at the Olympics is Dianne de Leeuw, who took silver in 1976, also at Innsbruck.

After Dijkstra's gold, all other Dutch Olympic champions medaled during long track speed skating until 2010. That year, snowboarder Nicolien Sauerbreij won gold in Vancouver. The Netherlands has won 48 speed skating gold medals, 3 more for short track, and 1 each for snowboarding and figure skating. Skeleton is the only other winter sport where a Dutch athlete won a medal, with Kimberley Bos taking the Bronze at the 2022 Games in Beijing.

After her golden Olympic performance, Dijkstra chose a different path. She joined the touring ice skating revue, Holiday on Ice. That provided her with a steady income, as opposed to her competitive sports career. She was active with the ice show until 1972.

Due to her great contribution to Dutch sport, Dijkstra was awarded the Fanny Blankers-Koen Trophy by Dutch sports association NOC*NSF in Turin in 2005.