Selma Poutsma

Reason for choosing this sport

She enjoyed the sensation of speed and the tactics of racing closely against others. She also likes the gliding aspect of the sport.

Most influential person in career	Her father. (Athlete, 02 Feb 2016)
Hero / Idol	US short track skater John Celski, Russian ballet dancer Polina Semionova. (Athlete, 13 Jan 2017, 02 Feb 2016)

Name of coach	Niels Kerstholt [national], NED
When and where did you begin this sport?	She took up the sport at age seven in The Hague, Netherlands.

Other information

MOVE TO FRANCE Born in The Hague, Netherlands, she was given the opportunity to join the France junior short track team in 2014. She decided to make the move to Font-Romeu soon after, where she became part of the French national set-up. She competed for France from 2015 to 2018 before switching to represent the Netherlands in 2019. "I threw myself in at the deep end. I've always been a bit more introverted, a bit more scared. But I forced myself there [France] to get over a number of things. Being shy, doing things you didn't dare before. I learned a lot of perseverance there. We did a lot of endurance training. That really hardened me. I used to feel much more like a girl. Now I feel more and more mature, more independent, I think I'm richer in experience." (skatenl.nl, 26 Nov 2021; nos.nl, 04 Mar 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 08 Dec 2020; moksz.hu, 29 Sep 2017) COACH REUNION In 2018 she began training with coach Niels Kerstholt at the RTC Midden in the Netherlands. In 2022 she reunited with Kerstholt when he replaced Jeroen Otter as head coach of the Dutch short track team. "Niels picked me up at a time when I began falling out of the sport. I had just come from France, where I had a really good time, but for my age at the time I probably trained a bit too much. That took some of the fun away. Niels regained that pleasure, after which I regained the energy again to finally be able to join the national training selection. Last year [speaking in 2022] everything was abnormal, with a lot of weird things, COVID-19 made it extra hard. This year I hope Niels will pick me up again, to regain the peace I experienced at the time." (schaatsen.nl, 08 Oct 2022; skatenl.nl, 26 Nov 2021)

www.facebook.com/selma.poutsma

Other sports

She competed in speed skating at the 2020 World Cup Qualification Tournament [WKKT] in the Netherlands. (schaatsen.nl, 26 Dec 2020)

Club / Team

Shorttrack Brabant: 's-Hertogenbosch, NED

Memorable sporting achievement	Winning gold in the 3000m relay at the 2021 World Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands. (rtvutrecht.nl, 10 Mar 2021)
Sporting philosophy / motto	"I am convinced that I have a lot of speed, but you also have to take into account that you are not the only one who can do that." (nos.nl, 04 Mar 2021)