Timmer's triumph

Updated: 2006-02-20 11:16

Once she got off the line, no one could catch Marianne Timmer .

Five days after she was disqualified before her first stride in the Olympics, Timmer came back to win the gold medal in the 1000m on Sunday.

Marianne Timmer of The Netherlands reacts after her race in the Ladies' 1000m speed skating competition during the 2006 Winter Olympics, at the Oval Lingotto in Turin. Timmer won the gold. [AFP]

It was shades of the past: The Dutch veteran had won over the same distance at the Nagano Games in 1998.

With a time of 1 minute, 16.05 seconds, Timmer beat Cindy Klassen of Canada by .04 of a second. Anni Friesinger of Germany, the overwhelming favorite, lost her first 1000m this season to take bronze; she was just .06 behind Timmer.

The .06 margin of difference among the medalists was the second-smallest ever in an Olympic speed skating event. In 1976, Tatyana Averina of the Soviet Union won the women's 3000m, finishing .04 ahead of the runner-up and .05 clear of the bronze medalist.

Timmer was ashen-faced and in tears just last Tuesday, furious at the starter who had disqualified her for moving in the starting stance of her 500m race. Sunday, she turned that raw anger into searing speed.

"Watch it, I am still angry," said joked with reporters afterward.

"I was so eager, so ready to start, and then they told me I couldn't," she said. "So I had to take all the adrenaline back home with me. Then you lie there in your bed without having done a thing. And the 1000m was still so far away."

It was worth waiting for.

Wearing a tight orange-and-white bodysuit, Timmer was among the early starters. She just got inside Klassen's time then had an agonizing wait for gold, until Friesinger -- skating in the last pair -- crossed the line.

The 31-year-old Timmer grabbed her coach in a tight embrace. Then she jumped up and waved to the thousands of orange-clad fans.

Timmer's victory set the Dutch fans into full party mode, singing, swaying and waving banners, including one that read, "As finishing touch, God created the Dutch."

A teary-eyed Timmer leapt onto the top spot of the medals podium, throwing her arms up in triumph.

Friesinger joined her on top of the podium and the two friends shared a prolonged embrace and a kiss on the cheek. The German had been expected to get her second gold of the games after the team pursuit on Thursday.

"I was cooked. I gave it all I could," Friesinger said. "I don't think I ever saw a top three so close together," she said, referring to the .06 seconds separating gold and bronze.

Timmer broke into a joyful skip as Dutch fans tossed a giant orange flower, white teddy bear and orange balloons onto the ice, dragging a Dutch flag behind her as she completed her victory walk.

After two golds in Nagano when she was 23, she was expected to become one of the greatest Dutch skaters of all. But in a mix of emotional, marital and business problems, she never kept her momentum going.

She was happy to have it made to Torino, but few in her skating-mad country gave her a chance for a medal, especially after her early disqualification in the 500m.

"Now I am hitting that high again," she said. "I hope all the lows are behind me now."

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