# Piet Kleine

Pieter "Piet" Kleine (born 17 September 1951) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands who specialized in the longer distances.

## 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.

## Records
### World records

Over the course of his career, Kleine skated 4 world records:
| Discipline | Result | Date | Location | Note |
| 5000 meter | 7:04.86 | 5 March 1976 | Inzell | World record until 12 March 1976 |
| 5000 meter | 7:02.38 | 12 March 1976 | Inzell | World record until 19 March 1976 |
| 10000 meter | 14:43.92 | 13 March 1976 | Inzell | World record until 21 March 1976 |
| Big combination | 165.884 | 13 March 1976 | Inzell | World record until 20 March 1977 |
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

### Personal records

Personal records :
| Men's Speed skating |||||
| Event | Result | Date | Location | Notes |
| 500 meter | 40.10 | 30 January 1981 | Davos | |
| 1000 meter | 1:17.35 | 30 January 1981 | Davos | |
| 1500 meter | 1:56.28 | 13 March 1976 | Inzell | |
| 3000 meter | 4:08.86 | 26 February 1981 | Inzell | |
| 5000 meter | 7:02.38 | 12 March 1976 | Inzell | |
| 10000 meter | 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 2nd place.

## Tournament overview

| Season | Dutch Championships Allround | European Championships Allround | Olympic Games | World Championships Allround |
| 1970–71 | AMSTERDAM 11th 500m 9th 5000m 8th 1500m 9th 10000m 8th overall | | | |
| 1971–72 | DEVENTER 8th 500m 10th 5000m 10th 1500m 9th 10000m 8th overall | | | |
| 1972–73 | HEERENVEEN 5th 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | GRENOBLE 20th 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m 5th overall | | DEVENTER 8th 500m 4th 5000m 1500m 10000m overall |
| 1973–74 | ASSEN 6th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | ESKILSTUNA DQ 500m 10th 5000m 8th 1500m DQ 10000m DQ overall | | INZELL 24th 500m 10th 5000m 7th 1500m 8th 10000m 10th overall |
| 1974–75 | ASSEN 13th 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall | HEERENVEEN 14th 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 4th 10000m overall | | OSLO 25th 500m 10th 5000m 13th 1500m 5th 10000m 13th overall |
| 1975–76 | GRONINGEN 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | OSLO 14th 500m 8th 5000m 9th 1500m 7th 10000m 8th overall | INNSBRUCK 18th 1000m 6th 1500m 5000m 10000m | INZELL 12th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall |
| 1976–77 | ASSEN 8th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | LARVIK 22nd 500m 5000m 9th 1500m 10000m 7th overall | | HEERENVEEN 19th 500m 7th 5000m 6th 1500m 5th 10000m 8th overall |
| 1977–78 | EINDHOVEN 9th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | OSLO 20th 500m 4th 5000m 10th 1500m 4th 10000m 9th overall | | GOTHENBURG 22nd 500m 5000m 11th 1500m 7th 10000m 10th overall |
| 1978–79 | | DEVENTER 13th 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 10000m 5th overall | | OSLO 21st 500m 9th 5000m 13th 1500m 10th 10000m 13th overall |
| 1979–80 | THE HAGUE 11th 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 10000m overall | TRONDHEIM 15th 500m 7th 5000m 12th 1500m 7th 10000m 12th overall | LAKE PLACID 6th 5000m 10000m | HEERENVEEN 17th 500m 7th 5000m 9th 1500m 11th 10000m 9th overall |
| 1980–81 | ASSEN 7th 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | DEVENTER 18th 500m 4th 5000m 10th 1500m 10000m 8th overall | | OSLO 27th 500m 5000m 12th 1500m 7th 10000m 10th overall |
source:

## Medals won

| Championship | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Olympic Games | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| World Allround | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| European Allround | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dutch Allround | 1 | 6 | 1 |

## Medals

An overview of medals won by Kleine at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
| Championship | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Olympic Games | 1976 (10000 m) | 1976 (5000 m) 1980 (10000 m) | |
| World Allround | 1976 | | 1973 |
| European Allround | | | 1975 |
| Dutch Allround | 1978 | 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1981 | 1980 |