Piet Kleine

Piet Kleine

Piet Kleine in 2006
Personal information
Born	(1951-09-17) September 17, 1951 Hollandscheveld, Netherlands
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	86 kg (190 lb)
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Sport	Speed skating
Turned pro	1973
Retired	1981
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	500 m: 40.10 (1981) 1000 m: 1:17.35 (1981) 1500 m: 1:56.28 (1976) 3000 m: 4:08.86 (1981) 5000 m: 7:02.38 1976) 10 000 m: 14:36.03 (1980)
Medal record Men's speed skating Representing the Netherlands Olympic Games 1976 Innsbruck 10000 m 1980 Lake Placid 10000 m 1976 Innsbruck 5000 m World Championships 1976 Heerenveen Allround 1973 Deventer Allround European Championships 1975 Heerenveen Allround

Pieter "Piet" Kleine (born 17 September 1951) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands.

Short biography

At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Piet Kleine became Olympic Champion on the 10,000 m, beating world record holder Sten Stensen – who won silver – in a close race. This was a reversal of the roles in the Olympic 5,000 m (which had been held three days earlier), in which Stensen had won gold and Kleine silver. In both the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m, Dutch – later French – speed skater Hans van Helden (then world record holder on the 5,000 m) won bronze. Later that same year (1976), Kleine broke 4 worlds records (including Van Helden's 5,000 m world record) and also became World Allround Champion.

Kleine participated again in the Winter Olympics of Lake Placid (1980), winning Olympic silver on the 10,000 m behind Eric Heiden. He ended his career as a speed skater in 1981 and started a successful career in amateur bicycle racing. In 1985, as a member of the Dutch national team, he finished 5th at the World Championships on the 100 km team time trial.

In 1986, Kleine became a marathon skater. This led to some controversy in 1997 when he finished 5th in the Elfstedentocht, but was subsequently removed from the final list of results because of a missing stamp on his stamp card. The controversy lay in the fact that, afterwards, it became clear that in the past several winners of the Elfstedentocht had missed stamps too, but were still declared the winners.

Kleine ended his skating career in 2001 and continued his profession as a postman, a profession he had always kept alongside his sports careers. In his free time, Kleine is the leader of a team of marathon skaters.

He later coached Dan Jansen.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Kleine at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
Winter Olympics	1976 (10,000 m)	1976 (5,000 m) 1980 (10,000 m)
World Allround	1976		1973
European Allround			1975
Dutch Allround	1978	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1981	1980

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Kleine skated 4 world records:

Discipline	Time	Date	Location
5000 m	7.04,86	March 5, 1976	Inzell
5000 m	7.02,38	March 12, 1976	Inzell
10,000 m	14.43,92	March 13, 1976	Inzell
Big combination	165.884	March 13, 1976	Inzell

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

Personal records
Men's Speed skating
Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	40.10	30 January 1981	Davos
1,000 m	1:17.35	30 January 1981	Davos
1,500 m	1:56.28	13 March 1976	Inzell
3,000 m	4:08.86	26 February 1981	Inzell
5,000 m	7:02.38	12 March 1976	Inzell
10,000 m	14:36.03	23 February 1980	Lake Placid
Big combination	165.884	13 March 1976	Inzell

Kleine has an Adelskalender score of 164.899 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a 2nd place.

External links

• Piet Kleine at speedskatinghalloffame.com
• Piet Kleine's ranking and personal records on the current Adelskalender