Personal Life
Ellen van Dijk grew up in Harmelen, Utrecht together with her two older brothers, her father Nico and her mother Anneke. Besides speed skating and cycling, she also played volleyball and performed gymnastics when she was a child. Van Dijk left Harmelen in 2006 and moved to to Amsterdam, where she still lives. During the first years in Amsterdam she shared her apartment with Mariëlle Kerste, her best friend and also a Dutch cyclist. Kerste moved out a few years later and Van Dijk has since shared an apartment with the Dutch cyclist Hannah Walter.
Van Dijk graduated from Minkema College, Woerden, in 2005 and earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Movement Sciences at the VU University in Amsterdam in 2011. After the Olympic 2012 Games, Van Dijk intends to study for a master's degree in Human Movement Sciences.
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