Marianne Timmer

Marianne Timmer is a Dutch former speed skater, born Maria Aaltje Timmer on 3 October 1974, who specialised in the middle distances of 1000 m and 1500 m. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano she won gold in both, beating Chris Witty in the 1000 m and Gunda Niemann in the 1500 m. She won the 1000 m at the 1999 World Single Distance Championships and in 2004 became the first Dutch woman to win the World Sprint Championship by being the most consistent skater without winning an individual distance. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin she surprisingly won the 1000 m again, which made her the first Dutch skater to win Olympic gold at two different Winter Games. She finished eighth in the 500 m at Salt Lake City in 2002 and broke a heel in 2009, missing the Vancouver Games.