The scandalous star of the Olympics was speed skater Jutta Leerdam. What you need to know

Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam has become one of the main stars of the Olympic Games in Milan. She won gold in the 1000 m, breaking the Olympic record. However, many criticize her for her glamorous lifestyle and flaunted relationship with popular blogger Paul Jake. What Lerdam is known for is in the Izvestia article.

I flew to Milan with a scandal

• Lerdam is one of the athletes who are widely known far beyond their sport. She gained great popularity due to her model appearance and active social media activity. Lerdam gained her first million followers on Instagram (owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation) back in 2021, when she won three of her seven gold medals at the World Championships. Almost 6 million people have already subscribed to it, and 2 million more users follow it on TikTok.

• Lerdam mostly shows his sporting days at the skating rink. To look good after the competition, she always applies makeup before the start, which is noticeably different from other athletes. She also has a lot of content typical of popular Instagram bloggers. The Dutch woman posts a lot of beautiful pictures taken while traveling to different parts of the world, and shows her luxurious lifestyle.

• Right before the Olympics in Italy, such openness led to a scandal. Leerdam showed how she flew to Milan from the Netherlands on a business jet. The cabin of the plane was decorated with the words "Success Jutta" and her photo, together with friends she tried cupcakes with her name, seafood delicacies and champagne were also served during the flight. Social media users were outraged that Leerdam refused to fly with the national team, which traveled to Milan in economy class. She was also reproached for not focusing enough on the upcoming competitions and treating them like a vacation.

She won her first gold with a record

• Lerdam did not respond to the criticism and continued to conduct social media in her own style, sharing with subscribers footage from the Olympic Village and from training at the ice rink. On February 9, she competed at her crowning 1000 m distance, where she twice became world champion. By the time it was Leerdam's turn, the leader of the competition was another Dutch woman, Femke Kok, who broke the Olympic record.

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Peter could not cleanly roll out his program, and the skiers could not cope with the shortest distance.

• Lerdam competed in the last pair together with Japanese Miho Tahagi, whom she lost to four years ago in a dispute for Olympic gold in Beijing. The Dutch speed skater lost to her in the first half of the race, but was able to roll in the last meters and won. She exceeded the Coc's result by 0.28 seconds and set another Olympic record. After her first Olympic victory, Lerdam unbuttoned her jumpsuit and burst into tears, which caused her makeup to immediately spread, but she managed to carefully make up her eyes again by the award ceremony.

• At the same time, until recently, Leerdam could not be sure that she would even compete at the Olympics. During the qualifying competition in the Netherlands, she fell at a distance of 1000 m, so badly that she tore the back of her jumpsuit and suffered a minor injury. However, the coaching staff allowed her to perform, despite the loss. In Milan, Leerdam will also compete in the 500 m, in which she will also be a contender for medals.

The bride of a popular boxing blogger

• Lerdam also attracts attention with his personal life. Until 2022, she dated Olympic champion Kun Verwey and even opened a skating school with him and founded a professional team. However, she is now in a relationship with American video blogger Jake Paul, who also became famous as a boxer. He became one of the first media celebrities to challenge professional athletes to fight them in the ring. Paul fought 14 fights against former MMA wrestlers and decorated boxers such as Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua, becoming one of the main stars of the Internet.

• Paul and Lerdam met in 2022, when he wrote to her asking for an interview for a podcast. The athlete initially reacted negatively to such an offer, but the following year they began dating and announced it on their social networks. In March 2025, the couple announced their engagement, but the wedding date has not yet been set. Lerdam has attended her fiance's fights several times, and Paul actively supports her at speed skating competitions. He was on the podium at the moment when she celebrated her victory at the Olympic Games.