Queen Ireen,

It may not be wise to write this while the race is still ongoing, but I just have to. I'm sitting here with a heart rate of 180 and that's just from watching the skating. But not just any competition: it was Ireen Wüst's 1500 meters. Her last 1500 meters in the Olympic arena. A race with which she, as the NOS reporter beautifully said, could add a page to her already thick book of victories.

Ireen Wüst, that girl who many years ago said she listened to Jan Smit before starting her race, is our greatest Olympian ever. The New York Times, Al Jazeera, all mention her during these Olympic Games. A phenomenon, that she is.

She won five gold, five silver, and one bronze medal during the Olympic Games. She was seven times world champion allround and fifteen times world champion long distance.

There is a woman, a Russian, who skated together six gold medals in 1960 and 1964, but if Wüst pulls it off, she will surpass her, because that’s as much gold and five more silver and a bronze on top.

She is making history, and I wish it for her so much.

Look at those red-white-blue nails, at the devotion, look back at the tears for her deceased friend Paulien. Then you are really quiet for a moment. And proud.

Thank you Ireen, for taking us on an adventure with so much tension and release for so many years.