Jan Blokhuijsen


Jan Blokhuijsen is an Olympic award-winning Dutch long-track speed skater who until 2013 skated for the commercial TVM team.

Career

In 2007, Blokhuijsen got his VWO degree at school. After a successful period in skating and inline skating he decided to focus only on speedskating. In February 2008, he won the Dutch Allround Speed Skating Championships junior title at the ice rink of Groningen. Later in the same month, he became world champion at the junior world championships speedskating, where he finished in front of his teammates Koen Verweij and Berden de Vries. Together with them he also won the world title at the team pursuit.
Blokhuijsen held the world record in the team pursuit discipline, along with teammates Sven Kramer and Koen Verweij. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he won a silver medal in the Men's 5000 m competition. At the 2014 European allround championships in Hamar, Blokhuijsen won his first European title.

Controversy

After the team pursuit event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Blokhuijsen made a comment during a press conference to the host South Koreans to "treat dogs better in this country", criticizing dog meat consumption in the host nation. Many South Koreans perceived his comment was disrespectful, claiming it was racist and ignorant of Korean culture and the declining dog meat custom in the country. He later gave an apology for this comment on Twitter, which he deleted later.

Records

Personal records

As of 10 March 2020, Blokhuijsen is in 11th position in the adelskalender with a score of 146.253 points. Between 13 February 2011 and 11 October 2013 he held a personal best 6th place.

Tournament overview

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World Cup overview

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