Sijtje van der Lende
# Sijtje van der Lende

Sijtje van der Lende (born 31 January 1950) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands and a skating coach. She competed at the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics in all distances from 500 to 3000 m. Her best achievement was ninth place in the 3000 m in 1976.

She won the national allround title in 1976 and 1977 and finished in third place in 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1980.

Personal bests:

* 500 m – 43.66 (1980)
* 1000 m – 1:25.86 (1980)
* 1500 m – 2:12.59 (1979)
* 3000 m – 4:39.15 (1977)
* 5000 m – 8:25.3 (1982)

After retirement she worked as a skating coach with various teams in the Netherlands, and in 1994 became the first female national coach. Her last professional speedskatingteam was VPZ (2005-2008). From 2008 till the Olympic winter games at Vancouver in 2010 she works with the national team of China. At the moment she's advisor for Topteam North Netherlands, a group of talented young speed skaters in this district.

