Jan de Jong

[3] His importance to Thialf was recognized outside the Netherlands also, the German paper Die Welt, for instance, making note of his retirement in 2000.

De Jong used ever-changing chemical mixtures instead of just water to create his ice, and was assisted by the School of Human Movement Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

[5] In 1993 De Jong and his colleague Mark Messer (from Calgary) looked on in dismay when the Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar, built for the 1994 Winter Olympics was inaugurated; Bjorn Lindstoen, the ice master in Hamar, could boast two world records and forty national records after two days of World Cup skating.

[4] In 1980, Dutch skater Hilbert van der Duim was the first man in four years to beat Eric Heiden in the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men.

Heiden dominated international skating; he was world champion three years in a row, and had won five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.