Dutch star Jens van ‘t Wout shares Olympic podium with his brother and feels like he won the lottery

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This article was published 18/02/2026 (231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MILAN (AP) — Dutch short track speedskating star Jens van ’t Wout already has two gold medals at the Milan Cortina Olympics, but Wednesday’s bronze medal felt like winning the lottery.

That’s because he ended up on the podium with his older brother, Melle van ’t Wout.

“We always used to say, ‘Imagine if,’ like in the context of if I win the lottery,” Jens van ’t Wout said. “If it ever happens, it’s a fairy-tale story, that is how we thought about it.”

The brothers finished behind Canadian Steven Dubois in the 500 meters on Wednesday, with Melle van ’t Wout beating out his sibling for silver.

They gave each other a huge hug after crossing the line before doing a celebratory lap, carrying the Netherlands flag and then embracing their parents, who leaned over from the stands.

Jens van ’t Wout won gold in the 1,500 meters and the 1,000 in Milan, but it was a first Olympic medal for Melle van ’t Wout, who returned this season from a serious knee injury that required surgery and kept him out for nearly two years.

“After his injury, we were kind of like, OK, this season is basically done for him, just train as hard as you can, get fit, see if you can get back for the post-Olympic season,” Jens van ’t Wout said. “And then all of a sudden, he made the world tour team for the Netherlands.

“And then we kind talked about it like ‘OK, we weren’t expecting this. Like, this is amazing … Now you just have fun.’ And then this dude just gets an Olympic medal.”

Melle van ’t Wout interjected with a broad smile: “I’ve been having a lot of fun.”

The van ’t Wouts aren’t the first short track siblings to share a podium. They said they were inspired by Shaoang Liu and his older brother Shaolin Sándor Liu, who represented Hungary and now China.

The Liu brothers shared a number of podiums in the world and European championships but were only on the Olympic podium together as part of a relay team.

“It’s unbelievable. We’ve had this goal since we were boys,” Melle van ’t Wout said. “We saw Shaolin and Shaoang do it for years. That even made our goal even bigger. And the fact that we did it is unbelievable.”

The double podium came on Melle van ’t Wout’s 26th birthday.

“The best part is that we did it together, on my birthday. I mean, it’s a dream come true,” Melle van ’t Wout said.

His 24-year-old brother was spared a shopping trip.

“I didn’t have a present yet, so … yeah, that’s his present,” Jens said as the brothers burst into laughter.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics