Athlete Bios
Long-track speedskating
Kramer follows father's speedskating legacy
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | 10:02 AM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Dutchman Sven Kramer won a silver medal in the 5,000m at the 2006 Games and a bronze in the team pursuit. (Cornelius Poppe/Getty Images)It was not a stretch to predict that Sven Kramer of the Netherlands would become an Olympic medallist and a world-record holder as a long-track speedskater.
First, he was born in the city of Heerenveen, which is to speedskating what Daytona is to auto racing. Second, his father is Yep Kramer, who was a silver medallist in the 1983 European all-around championships and who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics.
The son has matched the father and exceeded his accomplishments. Sven Kramer, 23, has won the world all-around championship for three consecutive years and is the world-record holder at 5,000 meters (six minutes 3.32 seconds) and 10,000 (12:41.69). He won a silver medal in the 5,000 at the 2006 Turin Games and a bronze in the team pursuit.
The Netherlands had been favoured to win gold in the team pursuit, which resembles a cycling pursuit and involves teams of three skaters, but Kramer fell during a semifinal pairing as the Dutch held a one-second lead over Italy. Kramer had another accident in the 1,500 meters in Turin, finishing 15th after a screw in one of his skates broke during the race.
In Vancouver, Kramer will be favoured to win the 5,000 metres and the 10,000 and the Netherlands should challenge for gold in the team pursuit, barring another accident. Entering this season, Kramer had not lost a 5,000 race in two years.
The more successful he is at the Olympics, the more his fans stand to save money on their electric bills. One of Kramer's sponsors, the Dutch power company Essent, has started a campaign called Svenergy. Those customers who sign up to support Kramer will receive a discount of 50 euros (about $75) for each gold medal he wins.
