Feb. 8, 1972: Dianne Holum wins Olympic gold medal in speedskating at Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan

Though just 20 years old, Northbrook native Dianne Holum arrived at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, a decorated athlete for which she was chosen to be a flag bearer for the United States team during the opening ceremony. Four years earlier, she earned silver and bronze medals in the 500- and 1,000-meter speedskating events in Grenoble, France.

Now competing in longer races, Holum dominated the field. She earned gold and set an Olympic record in the 1,500-meter race before following it up with a silver medal in the 3,000 meters.

She was inducted into the national Speedskating Hall of Fame in 1986.

After retiring from the sport, Holum became a coach. Her proteges included her daughter, Kirstin Holum, who competed in long-distance events during the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. She’s now known as Sister Catherine, and lives in a convent in England.

This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 9, 1972.

SAPPORO, Japan, Feb. 9 — Northbrook, Ill., put the United States on the world Olympic map today. A little daughter of the clan from the suburb of Chicago put the United States back on the gold standard and lifted the Stars and Stripes out of the Olympic gutter.

Dianne Holum, 20, a junior college student who worked part-time as a waitress to pay for her skate training, today won the 1,500-meter speed skating title in the 11th Winter Olympic Games.

She broke the Olympic record to bring the United States its first gold medal of the games, an embarrassing dearth that was wiped away by a group of wildly-cheering citizens of Northbrook and nearby environs. The petite longhaired blonde, skating in the fifth set of pairings in the Makomanai Rink, whipped around the 4 1/2 laps in 2:20.85. It knocked out the old Olympic mark of 2:22.40 set by Kaija Mustonen of Finland in the 1960 games at Grenoble, France.

Miss Holum, daughter of Arlene and Edward Holum, skated against Russia’s Nina Stratkevich, who pressed her with a time of 2:23.35. Dianne skated the first 300 meters in :20.0, with Nina keeping pace. At the 700 meters, Dianne pulled slightly ahead with a time of 1:04.6. At the 1,100 meters mark, the little girl from Illinois flashed a 1:42.9 and there was no doubt about who was going to hit the finish first.

Grueling Pace

But, in the last lap her tiring legs kept pumping away relentlessly to maintain the record pace to the wire.

It was necessarily grueling, a pace forced by Ateje Keulan-Deelstra of Holland, who skated in the first pairing and broke the record with 2:22.05. It was an opening pace that would dishearten most skaters, but Dianne skated a near-perfect race to accomplish the feat.

The ice was rated “good,” the weather was bright, sunny and 30 degrees. There was a shifting wind of about five miles an hour when Miss Holum broke from the barrier. She got a good start, a finely-timed rolling start that gave her about a half-stride break on her Russian skating partner.

Dianne, a Chicago Tribune Silver Skates champ, started in the outside lane, and pumped away with strong rhythmical strokes. She took the corners almost perfectly, picking up time on the Russian, who several times went out too high on the turns. Miss Holum finished on the inside lane, coming down the stretch where she drew emotional strength, confidence, and courage for the finishing kick from the cheering crowd from Northbrook.

Crowd Raises Banner

The contigent went wild. Up went the Northbrook Skating Club 10-foot banner, solid red with gold lettering. It was held aloft by Dick McCarter and George O’Connell.

Ma and Pa Holum embraced, everybody kissed Arlene and shook the hand of Edward, head of the Holum Binder and Loose Leaf Co., in Chicago. There were, among the dancing contingent 7,000 miles from home, Elaine Passarella, whose young son could make the next Olympics; Mrs. Edward Rudolph, coach of the Northbrook and Olympic teams; George and Fran Howie; Bill and Joanne Henning, whose daughter, Anne, should bring the United States its second gold medal tomorrow in the 500 meters; Jim and Dean Edwards, Lee Rogers, Herb and Rita Knudter, the O’Connells, the Poulis clan, who saw daughter and sister Leah score a 2:31.29 in the 1,500 today; and Steve Tsalikis, and Einar Jonland, whose son Gary skated in the men’s 1,500.

They’ll all join tonight in the Park Hotel for a celebration, “and we’ll have champagne even if I have to mortgage the house,” said Mrs. Holum. O’Connell, who helps conduct the Tribune Silver Skates Derbies, jokingly questioned her confidence. “How many mortgages can they give you on that house.” It brought another roar, along with a rally of newsmen, TV photographers, mikes, etc.

Ma and Pa Holum cooperated nicely with the pressing demands. Then Dianne came up. Dressed in the Olympic blue, slacks and short coat, she embraced her parents and the trio, oblivious of the mob, and talked the race over again.

“I was hoping for 2:21,” she was saying, then quit as the press tightened the knot. “I can’t breath, I can’t see,” she said and pulled away. They saw her again minutes later, down on the field accepting the gold medallion the center of the Trinity-stand, flanked by the second and third place winners — Stein Baas-Kaiser, the second-place silver, and her teammate from Holland, Deelstra, third place bronze, who also broke the Olympic mark with 2:21.5.

Then, for the first time during these Olympic games, the Stars and Stripes was raised to the top of the center flag pole while the band played the National Anthem. Unlike the one used in the opening ceremony of the games carried by Dianne, this one was bright, full of color, and of rich material.

At least, on this day, it looked that way as it unfurled majestically in the wind.

There were tears by all, prideful tears and tears copiously shed by Edward Holum, the father whose daughter reached the pinnacle of sportdom today.

She now has the Olympic “hat trick” — a gold, plus a silver and a bronze which she won at Grenoble in the 500 and 1,000 in 1968. And today’s effort was not her best; she skated the 1,500 in 2:19.5 last month at Davos.

In other events today, Magnar Solberg, a Norwegian policeman, defended his 1968 Olympic title by winning the individual biathlon event — a combination of cross country skiing and rifle marksmanship. Hansjorg Knauthe of East Germany won the silver medal, while Lars-Goran Arwidson of Sweden took the bronze.

Also, Galina Koulakova of the Soviet Union won the women’s five-kilometer cross-country race and became the third multiple gold medal winner of the 11th Winter Olympic Games.

Miss Koulakova, who had won the 10-kilometer race, covered the 3.1 miles in 17 minutes, 50 seconds to beat Marjatta Kajosmaa of Finland, timed in 17:05.50. Helena Sikolova of Czechoslovakia took the bronze medal in 17:07.32.

Soviet World Champions Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov, skating an athletic, fast-moving routine, earlier won the pairs’ figure skating championship.

In hockey, Sweden pumped in four second-period goals to score a 5-3 victory over Poland to take a temporary hold on first place in Class A action. Russia, tied with the Swedes with three points one behind Czechoslovakia going into the day’s round, was to meet the United States later tonight.

In preliminary action, Norway’s slalom specialist, Erik Haaker, clocked the best time of the top seeds in the first heat of the men’s giant slalom event.