Jutta Leerdam refused to fly economy with country’s team to the Winter Olympics
Love can be very blind or very luxurious. In the case of Jutta Leerdam, the Olympic speed skater, it is very much the latter, much to the dismay of others.
Her life through rose-tinted glasses is irking those around her, as it appears to clash with ideas of team spirit and grounded sportsmanship.
The Dutch speed skating champion has gone beyond simply flaunting a flamboyant lifestyle on social media.
Things went a little far when the silver medalist from the Beijing 2022 Olympics decided she would not travel to the eagerly anticipated Milan Cortina Games with her fellow Dutch athletes, but instead with her fiancé, American professional boxer and YouTuber Jake Paul.
Teammates like Marijke Groenewoud and the rest of the skating group traveled with TeamNL on a regular commercial flight in economy class and were reportedly less than pleased with what they saw as high-handedness.
The champion, who has over 6 million Instagram followers, arrived in Milan on Jake Paul’s Dassault Falcon 900EX, a private jet with a roughly 40-foot-long cabin that can cover about 5,100 miles (8,275 km) without stopovers.
She even obtained special permission from her federation to travel separately. Yes, she chose gourmet sushi, designer pastries, and the comfort of her partner’s luxuries over traveling with her team, but against this brazen display of luxury and refinement, what ultimately mattered was how she performed, and that she absolutely did.
In the women’s 1,000 meters at Milan, she delivered an Olympic-record 1:12.31 to win gold, beating her teammate Femke Kok, who had briefly set an Olympic record minutes earlier, and defending champion Miho Takagi. It was also the Netherlands’ first gold of the Games. That was all it took to flip the narrative from diva who lives like a millionaire to queen of the ice.
Living in her protected bubble
Leerdam may have won the gold, but she is not winning many hearts, except Jake Paul’s! The sportswoman chose to skip the opening ceremony, watching it from bed instead of marching into the stadium with TeamNL.
For many fans and commentators, that image of the star resting in a luxury cocoon while her teammates walked in behind the Dutch flag made the gap between her world and theirs feel even wider.
It did not help that this jet-setting queen initially refused to speak to journalists, preferring to communicate through her own channels instead.
Dutch sports journalists even went so far as to file a complaint over the lack of access. They expected more of an Olympic athlete’s sound bites, but what they witnessed was a sporting influencer.
Still, once the gold medal and Olympic record were in hand, the tone began to shift.
That performance alone was enough to flip the story for a large part of the Dutch public, turning her from a supposed diva living like a millionaire into the untouchable queen of the ice.
Fiancé Jake Paul, private jet life, and the diva debate
Like it or not, Leerdam is living the good life, playing her sport to perfection and making serious money while doing both.
The Dassault Falcon 900EX that carried her into Milan is Jake Paul’s own private jet, a tri-jet that has become a character in their story.
She did not shy away from flaunting the aircraft, bypassing crowded terminals, stretching out in a stand-up cabin, and sharing those rose-tinted glimpses of gourmet sushi and designer pastries with millions of followers.
While all that food looked delicious, it left a bad taste in the mouth of former Dutch footballer Johannes Gerrit Derksen.
“She already lives like a millionaire, with private jets and everything. Her behavior is horrible to me.
It is like that of a diva, not a professional about to compete in the Olympics. If I were her coach, I would not tolerate it,” the 77-year-old said.
For traditionalists, Leerdam represents a line that has been crossed, where Olympic discipline has been wrapped in Hollywood gloss.
It may also not sit well with those who say this is all the result of Jake Paul sliding into her DMs on Instagram, which is how they met.
She went public with Jake in 2023, and they announced their engagement in March 2025.
With so many outlets still calling her “Jake Paul’s fiancée” even in articles about her own victory, it is perhaps only fitting that she arrived at the Winter Olympics in Jake Paul’s jet and left with an Olympic record and a gold medal that even her loudest critics had to respect.
