Hein Vergeer

Hein Vergeer in 1985
Personal information
Birth name	Henricus Coenradus Nicolaas Vergeer
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1961-05-02) 2 May 1961 (age 62) Haastrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Sport	Speed skating
Turned pro	1980
Coached by	Henk Gemser
Retired	1988
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	500 m: 37.79 (1987) 1000 m: 1:14.62 (1988) 1500 m: 1:53.88 (1987) 3000 m: 4:01.21 (1987) 5000 m: 6:54.91 (1986) 10 000 m: 14:39.05 (1986)
Medal record Representing the  Netherlands Men's Speed Skating World Allround Championships 1985 Hamar Allround 1986 Inzell Allround European Allround Championships 1985 Eskilstuna Allround 1986 Oslo Allround 1987 Trondheim Allround

Henricus Coenradus Nicolaas "Hein" Vergeer (born 2 May 1961) is a Dutch former speed skater who became both European and World Allround Champion in both 1985 (in which year he also became National Sprint Champion) and 1986 (in which year he also became National Allround Champion).

Hein Vergeer was a dominant allround skater, but after recovering from an injury, he was never able to reach that same level again. Because of this, he was unable to fulfil his wish of winning an Olympic medal – at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Vergeer competed in the 500 m, the 1,000 m, and the 1,500 m, but his best result was a mere fifteenth place. He had also competed in those same three distances at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo four years earlier, but did not do much better than with a tenth place as his best result. His best years were in between those two Winter Olympics.^[1]

Despite his dominance, Vergeer never managed to skate any world records. This could label him as a "true" all-round skater – very good at all distances, but never the best in any single distance.

Vergeer lived during his skating years in Haastrecht, a town where Leo Visser, another former World Champion speed skating, also used to live. Both skaters used to train at the skating club STV Lekstreek.

Back in the days of Vergeer's dominance, speed skating was not very lucrative, so Vergeer did what many other top skaters in those days did – he used his fame as a stepping stone to a career in marketing and communication. Vergeer currently is an advisor of several ventures and he organises events.

In 2006 and 2007, Vergeer participated in the Holiday on Ice show called Fantasy.

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (Notes) lists the official world records on the dates that Vergeer skated his personal records.

Source:^[2]

Note that Vergeer's personal record on the 3000 meter was not a world record because Leo Visser skated 3:59.27 that same day at the same tournament. Also note that when Vergeer set his personal record on the 10000 meter Geir Karlstad set a new world record of 14:12.14 that same day at the same tournament.

Vergeer has an Adelskalender score of 161.193 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a seventh place. The Adelskalender is an all-time allround speed skating ranking.

Tournament overview

Season	Dutch Championships Allround	Dutch Championships Sprint	Dutch Championships Single Distances	European Championships Allround	Olympic Games	World Championships Allround	World Championships Sprint	World Championships Junior Allround
1979–80								ASSEN 12th 500m 10th 3000m 21st 1500m 10th 5000m 12th overall
1980–81	ASSEN 8th 500m 12th 5000m 12th 1500m 10th 10000m 10th allround
1981–82	HEERENVEEN 500m 10th 5000m 1500m 8th 10000m 7th overall
1982–83	DEVENTER 500m 11th 5000m 6th 1500m 11th 10000m 8th overall	UTRECHT 500m 5th 1000m 4th 500m 1000m overall					HELSINKI 10th 500m 9th 1000m 9th 500m 15th1000m 10th overall
1983–84		EINDHOVEN 500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall			SARAJEVO 13th 500m 10th 1000m 12th 1500m		TRONDHEIM 18th 500m 11th 1000m 13th 500m 8th 1000m 11th overall
1984–85	ALKMAAR 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall	UTRECHT 500m 1000m 4th 500m 1000m overall		ESKILSTUNA 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall		HAMAR 6th 500m 5000m 1500m 8th 10000m overall	HEERENVEEN 9th 500m 4th 1000m 13th 500m 14th 1000m 7th overall
1985–86	ASSEN 500m 5000m 1500m 6th 10000m overall	UTRECHT 500m 1000m 500m overall		OSLO 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall		INZELL 500m 16th 5000m 18th 1500m 7th 10000m overall	KARUIZAWA 500m 16th 1000m 18th 500m 7th 1000m 16th overall
1986–87	DEVENTER 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall		THE HAGUE UTRECHT 1500m 5000m	TRONDHEIM 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 14th 10000m overall		HEERENVEEN 6th 500m 18th 5000m 6th 1500m 14th 10000m 10th overall
1987–88		ALKMAAR 7th 500m 1000m 7th 500m 1000m overall	HEERENVEEN 1000m 1500m	THE HAGUE 500m 11th 5000m 1500m 15th 10000m 5th overall	CALGARY 24th 500m 15th 1000m 27th 1500m

Source: ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Medals won

Championship	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Dutch Allround	2	1	0
Dutch Sprint	2	2	1
Dutch Single Distances	1	2	1
European Allround Classification	2	0	1
World Allround Classification	2	0	0

Medals

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