Ard Schenk didn’t just show up to the 1972 Winter Olympics. He arrived in Sapporo, Japan, and completely dismantled the field. Born in Anna Paulowna, Netherlands, on September 16, 1944, Schenk was built for the ice. He walked away with three gold medals that year. It was the peak of a career that redefined what a speed skater could do.
He wasn’t an overnight sensation. Schenk started competing internationally in 1964. His father was a national skating coach, so the ice was always under his feet. He took his first European championship title in 1966. By 1967, he was already the world 1,500-metre champion. That title stuck until he missed 1969. He held it again from 1970 through 1972. He also claimed the world 5,000-metre title in 1971 and 1972. And the 10,000-metre crown from 1971 to 1972.
The 1968 Grenoble Games tested him first. He took silver in the 1,500-metre event. Not bad for a buildup to the big one. But four years later, he was untouchable. He won the 1,500-, 5,000-, and 10,000-metre races handily. The only thing he missed was the 500-metre dash. He fell after just four steps. It was a brutal end to a potential sweep.
Schenk was the first skater to win the 500-, 1,500-, 5,000- and 10,000-metre races at the world championships in a single year (1972).
That historic feat—winning all four distances at the World Allround Championships in one year—hadn’t been done before. Schenk did it. No one had ever swept the distances like that. It remains one of the most impressive achievements in winter sports history.
After Sapporo, the landscape of speed skating shifted. Schenk jumped into the fray. In 1973, he became the star attraction of a new professional speed-skating league. He won various titles there. The league folded in 1974. He retired shortly thereafter. The era of his dominance ended quietly.
