Ko Willems

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Ko Willems Road cycling
Ko Willems2.jpg
To person
Full name Jacobus Matheus Willems
Date of birth October 27, 1900
date of death September 28, 1983
nation Netherlands
discipline Train , road
To the team
Current team ASV Olympia
function driver
Most important successes
Olympic games
goldOlympic champion over 50 kilometers in 1924
Last update: January 27, 2013

Jacobus Matheus "Ko" Willems (born October 27, 1900 in Amsterdam ; † September 28, 1983 there ) was a Dutch cyclist .

In 1924, Ko Willems, who had previously won two national titles among the amateurs, won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris on the Vincennes Velodrome over 50 kilometers ( Scratch ). He succeeded in this victory, although he was still in ninth place on the previous lap, but was able to decide the race for himself with a brilliant sprint. His team-mate Jan Maas , who had previously attacked van Drakestein on the instructions of team leader Gerard Bosch , in order to exhaust the other drivers, contributed to the victory ; the plan worked. Maas took seventh place.

From 1925 to 1932 Willems raced as a professional , but without much success. He opened a bike shop in his hometown. He was a member of the ASC Olympia , the oldest cycling club in the Netherlands, which counts numerous world champions and Olympians among its members. His son is the sailor Hans Willems , who took part in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo . He continued his father's business near the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam .

Individual evidence

  1. ascolympia.nl

literature

  • Fred van Slogteren: Wielerhelden van Oranje . Nieuwegein 2003, p. 207

Web links