Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sjoukje Dijkstra dies at 82
Sjoukje Dijkstra of the Netherlands, who won the 1964 Olympic women's singles figure skating title and three world championships, has died at age 82, according to the Dutch National Olympic Committee.
"Sjoukje Dijkstra was a figure skating legend," committee chairwoman Anneke van Zanen-Nieberg said in a statement, translated from the original Dutch. "An icon, there is no other word. With her death, an era really comes to an end."
Dijkstra started skating at age 6 and placed fourth at the Dutch Championships in 1953 at age 10, according to the International Olympic Committee.
She made her Olympic debut in 1956, placing 12th at age 14, and then in 1959 won the first of five consecutive world championships medals.
She took silver behind American Carol Heiss at the 1960 Winter Games, then rattled off three consecutive world titles from 1962-64.
Her Olympic gold in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1964, was the first for any Winter Olympian from the Netherlands and came with the Dutch royal family in attendance.
Dijkstra remains the lone Dutch figure skater to win an Olympic title.
