Aria de Graaf

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Arie de Graaf (born October 22, 1939 in Rotterdam ; † July 21, 1995 there ) was a Dutch cyclist and national champion in cycling .

Athletic career

Arie “Aad” de Graaf was a protégé of Arie van Vliet , who advised him to concentrate on the track sprint , despite a handicap (he was almost deaf in one ear). For the first time he appeared with second place at the Grand Prix of the City of Manchester in the track sprint behind Lloyd Binch in 1960 (in 1963 he was able to reverse the result and win himself). A short time later he won the national championship of the Netherlands as an amateur . He was able to defend the title in 1961 and 1962. In 1964 he won the traditional sprinter tournament Champion of Champions on the London Olympic track at Herne Hill . In 1960 and 1964 he was a participant in the Summer Olympics in Rome and Tokyo, respectively . In the sprint he made it into the hopes of the last sixteen, on the tandem he was fourth in Tokyo with Piet van der Touw as a partner. He has competed several times at the UCI Track World Championships , twice he made it to the quarter-finals in the sprint, and he also competed in tandem races and 1000-meter time trials .

In 1965 and 1966 he started as an independent with a racing team without a fixed contract. In the sprint championships for professional drivers , he came second in 1965 and third in 1966. Until the end of his life he was on his racing bike almost every day and was a participant in the Senior World Championships in Austria almost every year .

Professional

After his career, he opened a vegetable wholesaler.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Presidium of the Cycling Section of the GDR (Ed.): Cycling Week . No. 7/1959 . Sportverlag, Berlin 1959, p. 7 .
personal data
SURNAME Graaf, Arie de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch cyclist and national cycling champion
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1995
Place of death Rotterdam