Feb 24, 2024 at 12:53 Update: 28 minutes ago
Joan Haanappel has died at the age of 83. The Hague woman made a furore as a figure skater in the 1950s.
Haanappel became national figure skating champion four times in a row, from 1955 to 1958. She participated twice in the Olympic Games. In 1956 the Hague finished thirteenth and four years later she finished fifth. Haanappel took bronze three times at the European Championships.
Haanappel is usually mentioned in the same breath as Sjoukje Dijkstra. The two put the global sport of figure skating in the Netherlands on the map. Dijkstra won Olympic gold in 1964.
After her sports career, Haanappel started working at the Wiener IJsrevue and Holiday on Ice. She then worked as a figure skating commentator for thirty years, first at Studio Sport and later at Eurosport. In the SBS6 program Dancing on Ice she was a jury member.
Haanappel had lived with her husband for some time in Wezembeek-Oppem, Belgium, near Brussels. She died in the hospital in Leuven.
Joan Haanappel put figure skating in the Netherlands.
Own foundation with friend Dijkstra
Haanappel can be considered the founder of figure skating in the Netherlands. In the first years of her career she was better than Dijkstra, who then surpassed her with three world titles and one Olympic title. Haanappel and Dijkstra were good friends.
In 2008, Haanappel was appointed knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. A year later she founded the Netherlands Figure Skating Foundation, assisted by her buddy Dijkstra. The aim of the foundation was to revive the sport in our country.
Haanappel’s initiative paid off. In 2022, Lindsay van Zundert took part in the Olympic Games in Beijing as the first Dutch figure skater in 45 years, where she finished eighteenth. Haanappel and Dijkstra were her mentors.
“Everyone will miss Joan enormously,” the foundation said in a press release. “She was concerned about the children, their dreams and about making top talent in figure skating shine forever. We will forever honor her great contribution to figure skating and continue her legacy and the Netherlands Figure Skating Foundation with conviction and determination.”
Sjoukje Dijkstra and Joan Haanappel with Lindsay van Zundert in the middle. Photo: KNSB
Image: screenshot
2024-02-24 11:53:50
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