De Jong wins the men’s 10,000m

TURIN (Reuters) – Dutch speedskater Bob de Jong won the
men’s 10,000 meters at the Turin Winter Olympics on Friday.

De Jong built up a world-record pace halfway through and,
fired on by a Dutch crowd clocked laps below 32 seconds until
the end.

Skating to the chants of “Holland, Holland,” the Dutchman
who had won silver in the distance at the 1998 Nagano Games,
maintained his speed to set an unbeatable time of 13:01.57.

American Chad Hedrick claimed silver with 13:05.40 while De
Jong’s compatriot Carl Verheijen finished third.

Hedrick won his third medal in Turin having grabbed a 5,000
gold and a 1,500 bronze earlier in the Games.

De Jong, who had competed in the fourth pair, kept a close
eye on the set of skaters and as soon as he noticed that
Hedrick had failed to beat his time, he punched the air in
delight before collapsing on his back at the center of the
rink.

When the result flashed up on the giant screen at the Turin
rink, a sea of orange-clad supporters jumped up to their feet
to cheer on yet another Dutch success.

De Jong’s victory gave the Netherlands their third
speedskating title at the Olympics.

It was an emotional farewell for Bart Veldkamp, who was
competing in his last race after five Olympic Games.

Given a standing ovation by the crowd and throwing flowers
back into the stands, Veldkamp, racing for Belgium since 1998,
had won gold in the 10,000 at the 1992 Games and bronze in the
1994 Olympics for Netherlands.