country retired birth_place imagesize medaltemplates birth_date spouse titles image article_title name turnedpro
netherlands 2004 dearsum , netherlands 250px men 's speed skating 28 december 1973 anni friesinger-postma -lrb- 2009 -rrb- no ids postma.jpg ids postma
 ids postma 1993
ids postma

ids hylke postma -lrb- born 28 december 1973 in dearsum -rrb- is a dutch former speed skater .
he is an olympic gold medalist and former world champion .
to some it would seem that ids postma made his debut in 1994 , but the season before he had already finished 2nd at the speedskating world championships for juniors .
in his first year as senior skater , he became dutch allround champion , finished second behind johann olav koss at the world allround championships , and came 4th in the european championships , but nevertheless did not qualify for the dutch olympic team .
in 1997 postma won both the european allround championships and the world allround championships .
his greatest success came in 1998 when he became world allround champion again , also setting a world record in the point-sum combination , and won two olympic medals at the olympic games in nagano .
he won the 1,000 meters event and placed second at his specialty , the 1,500 meters , just behind Ådne søndrål from norway .
also in 1998 , he was the first skater who skated an official world record on the 1,500 meters below 1:50.00 : postma did this in berlin .
erben wennemars had done the same the summer before , but that time was not ratified by the international skating union .
postma 's record did not last long , because a few hours later kevin overland skated to a new record in calgary .
postma is also a three-time world champion in the world single distance championships .
he won the 5,000 meters in 1996 and the 1,500 meters in 1999 and 2000 .
in october 2004 postma announced his retirement and nowadays he lives on his farm in deersum .
he married german speed skater anni friesinger on 11 august 2009 in salzburg .
the couple will not live together on the farm until renovations are complete .
in august 2011 , she gave birth to a daughter .
he previously had a relationship with renske vellinga , until she died in a car crash in 1994 .
