Robert Rintje Ritsma (born 13 April 1970)[1] is a Dutch former long track speed skater.

His nickname is the Beer van Lemmer, which translates to the "Bear from Lemmer", analogous to Igor Zhelezovski's nickname "The Bear from Minsk", both of which are in reference to their imposing physical appearance.

He participated in five Winter Olympics, winning two silver and four bronze medals, from the 1994, 1998 and 2006 Games.

He also stood at the top of the alltime world ranking, the Adelskalender, for a long time (1,125 days in total).

Over the course of his career, Ritsma skated 4 world records: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[3] Source: SpeedskatingResults.com[4] source:[5] [6] [7] [8] On 1 December 2013 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sven Kramer won his 30th ISU World Cup event thus surpassing Ritsma as the most successful Dutch World Cup speed skater.