GANGNEUNG, South Korea — On the afternoon he became the first Canadian man in 86 years to do what he was about to do, Ted-Jan Bloemen was eating his lunch and he was a little worried about how his legs would feel in his Olympic debut, which was just a couple of hours away.
“I don’t know,” the 31-year-old told his coach, “it could really start to hurt after four laps.”
Well, that’s not a good thing when you’re skating 12-and-a-half times around an oval. But later that afternoon, Bloemen ignored the pain, somewhat. He started his race well, he faded a bit, and then he legged out one heck of a finish, firing his right skate out at the line to edge a Norwegian by a miniscule .002 seconds. That tiniest amount of time turned out to be the difference between silver and bronze in this 22-man race, and the silver was Bloemen’s.
His blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun, forehead still shiny with sweat, Bloeman grinned when asked what the medal means to him, just about 20 minutes after he earned it. “I’m 31 years old now and this is my first Olympic Games and I already won a medal at it,” he said. “It is really big and I’m really proud and I’m really grateful for the great team that I have around me.”
It’s a big moment for Bloemen, and a big moment for the speed skating program. Only once before had Canada won an Olympic medal at 5,000-m on the men’s side, and Bloemen’s is the best-ever finish in the event for a Canadian at the Olympics, bettering Willy Logan’s bronze medal effort 86 years ago, back in 1932. Bloemen will receive that medal, which is Canada’s first in speed skating and third of these Games, in a ceremony on Monday night.
And the best news is, Bloemen’s strongest race is still to come, in the even more painful 10,000 metres. As he put it, that 5,000-metre silver medal-winning effort “wasn’t a great, great race.” Coach Bart Schouten let him know it, too, when he told Bloemen: “That wasn’t your best.”
No, his time of 6:11.616 is nearly 10 seconds slower than the world record standard he posted (at high altitude, in Salt Lake City) late last year. Bloemen’s sub-best race sure was entertaining, though. The way the Canadian team had it figured, his heat with Norway’s Sverre-Lunde Pedersen was going to be a big one, with a medal on the line and with Sven Kramer (the eventual winner, his third straight Olympic gold at this distance, and yes, he’s Dutch) still to skate. And so, when Bloemen trailed the Norwegian by a good half-second with three-and-a-half laps to go, Schouten started shouting, “to wake him up,” he said.
“Hey! You gotta fight him! Fight!” Schouten yelled, as Bloemen whipped by at more than 50 km/h. When Schouten didn’t see much fight from Bloemen during that next lap, with two-and-a-half to go, he delivered another message.
“This is for a medal!” Schouten yelled. “You gotta beat him!”
Bloemen heard the yelling, and he responded. Initially, his time of 6:11.61 matched Pedersen’s, but when the photo finish showed that Bloemen came in .002 faster than Pedersen, the Canadian threw up both of his arms and he pumped them and smiled. He was first for the time being, but with Kramer still to go, he knew his time wouldn’t stand up as the day’s best.
In the flower ceremony following the race—where skaters received not flowers, but a plush version of the tiger mascot, Soohorang, wearing a fancy hat—Bloemen sported his Canada tuque and Canada mittens, and he waved at the crowd.
He wears the Canada gear proudly and well, but this Team Canada membership is relatively new for Bloemen, who became a citizen fewer than four years ago. He was born in Holland, which is known for its skating, and grew up in Gouda, which is known for its cheese. Bloemen’s father was born in New Brunswick, so he was able to move to Calgary four years ago and join Team Canada for what he felt might result in better opportunities on the ice.
Since the move, Bloemen’s results have sky-rocketed. He’s broken two world records (5,000 and 10,000-m), won a world championship medal at 10,000m, and now an Olympic medal in the shorter distance, where his previous best on the international stage was fifth.
It’s not just Canadian coaching that’s to credit, here, especially considering the powerhouse speed skating system Bloemen came from. Bloemen says he’s matured a great deal, that he’s been training better and eating better, and Schouten says he’s a better teammate. “It was a hard decision” to make the move, Bloemen says, “but in the end it was also easy because I always felt at home right from the start, because I had such great people around me.”
What he likes most about training in Canada is that he’s consistently skating with one program, while in Holland, he was bouncing around from team to team. “I just wanted to build on my training year after year, and I couldn’t do that in Holland,” he told Sportsnet, in a recent interview. “I couldn’t find a situation that was good for myself.
“I was looking for a situation like that in Canada,” he added. “I got that, and I got so much more.”
With an Olympic silver medal already to his credit, Bloemen has two more chances at hardware here, in his marquee 10,000-m distance, and in the team event. You can bet he’ll spend most of the time between now and his next race resting those legs, though. He grins and shakes his head, thinking about those final laps.
“I was just trying to catch that guy in front of me,” he said. “I was so tired, could barely stand on my legs…”
Well, he must have been right at lunch, then. It did hurt—a lot. But Bloemen fought, and the result was historic.
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