Stien Baas-Kaiser

In 1963, Stien Kaiser débuted as a skater at age 24, when she surprised the Dutch skating scene by clocking the best times of the season. Dubbed "too old" by officials, she was not selected for the Olympics the following year. When she defeated Olympian Willy de Beer by a huge margin at the national championships, she received an apology, and was allowed to join the newly formed national women's team. She won her first World Championship medal in 1965, and Kaiser became the first Dutch woman to win the World Allround Championships in 1967, repeating in 1968. After a slightly disappointing Grenoble Olympics (two bronze medals), Baas-Kaiser finished runner-up at the World Championship four times (1969-1972). Despite these results, coach Gerard Maarse only picked her as a substitute for the Sapporo Olympics. When Trijnie Rep performed disappointingly, Baas-Kaiser was allowed to skate. Eager to perform, she sped to a silver medal in the 1500 m and won the gold medal in the 3000 m.

Personal Bests: 500 – 44.81 (1972); 1000 – 1:29.0 (1971); 1500 – 2:15.8 (1971); 3000 – 4:46.5 (1971).