Skating legend Irene Schouten announces retirement: A look back at her glittering career

Irene Schouten, one of the most successful speed skaters of all time, has announced her retirement in February 2024.

The Dutch star released the news on Instagram. "After my successful Olympic Games, and many world titles, I can look back on a superb and successful career. I have achieved what I wanted."

"Feeling strong and skated last few days even my fastest laps ever. But I also realize that there is a life next to the top sport. I’m really looking forward to that too. Lately I’ve been thinking hard and decided that this will be my last season. Now that the decision has been made, it feels good to share this right away," she added.

Schouten is considered a skating legend, with one of the most impressive records in the history of the sport. Let's take a look back at some of her achievements.

Schouten grew up in a skating environment, as she reveals on her personal website. Her older brother and sister were already skating in a club, and Irene followed in their footsteps.

She soon showed her talent and started winning as a junior, while also competing in inline skating. She experienced her breakthrough in the 2009/10 season and would become a dominant force in Dutch and international skating.

Schouten is a multiple Dutch mass start and marathon champion, and has also been crowned world champion on several occasions. In 2018, she claimed her first Olympic medal (bronze) in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

However, perhaps the absolute highlight of her career were the 2022 Beijing Olympics, where she was the undisputed skating queen. In China, Schouten claimed no fewer than three gold and one bronze medal, as recorded on her personal website. An impressive feat.

By doing so, Schouten wrote history, becoming "one of the most successful Dutch Olympians" of all time, as Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant puts it.

However, Schouten is not only a top skater but also a more-than-respectable cyclist. On her Instagram account, she regularly posts pictures of her on her bike, and she even competed in the 2023 Dutch National Championships, where she came 27th, according to ProCyclingStats.

In June 2022, she took an important step in her private life, according to Dutch online newspaper Nu, by marrying Dirkjan Mak, with whom she had been in a relationship for five years.

2022 was an excellent year for Schouten, who put the icing on the cake with the Dutch Sportswoman of the Year trophy, one of the most renowned awards a Dutch athlete can win. "This means a lot to me," Schouten told Dutch public broadcaster NOS.

In 2024, Schouten competed in the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Calgary, Canada. She once again showed her sheer class in front of the whole world, in what could have been her last big tournament.

Schouten claimed three gold and one silver medal and ended her career on a high note with absolute success.

She has won everything she wanted to win, except for one epic Dutch race, as he told on Instagram: "Only winning the Elfstedentocht is still missing from my list."

Schouten now plans to enjoy life after professional sport, as she explained on Instagram, but will forever be remembered as the skating queen that she is.