Career
Straathof was the first, and still the only, athlete in the world to represent his country at the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. His best distance was the 1500 metres, and as the longest distances were his worst he only participated in one international all-round championship in his career. He made his Olympic debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics held in Lillehammer.
He was qualified for the 1500 metres and placed 9th.
He was never able to equal this performance or come close to winning another medal, and he made a switch to track cycling. As pilot at the tandem he teamed up with visually handicapped cyclist January Mulder.
Straathof decided to make another switch, and became part of the Dutch Team Pursuit team that qualified for the 2002 World Championships, where they placed seventh. A year later they placed 9th, and in 2004 they improved their ranking to the fourth position.
The team, composed of Straathof, Jens Mouris, Peter Schep and Levi Heimans, also qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics where they came in fifth.
After those Olympics Straathof ended his professional sports career. Finally, Straathof is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games. Personal records
Results
Track cycling (pilot at the tandem), 4 km pursuit
World championships 1998: Silver medal
Track, 4 km team pursuit
World championships 2002: 7th
World championships 2003: 9th
World championships 2004: 4th
Olympic games Athene 2004: 5th.