Margriet Matthijsse

Margriet Matthijsse (born April 29, 1977 in Rotterdam ) is a former Dutch sailor , two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist. In 1999 the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) voted the sportswoman World Sailor of the Year ( ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards ). The award represents the highest honor a sailor can receive for their performance in the sailing world.

Life

Kralingse Plas near Rotterdam , area of the Rotterdamsche Zeilvereeniging sailing club

During her active time, Margriet Matthijsse belonged to the Rotterdamsche Zeilvereeniging (RZV) sailing club. The athlete achieved her greatest successes in the one-handed dinghy Europe between 1994 and 2000. In 2001 she switched to the 470 dinghy , a two-man racing dinghy with trapeze and spinnaker . In this boat, in which she formed a team with Lisa Westerhof, she could no longer build on her great international successes of previous years and ended her sporting career after finishing 9th at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens .

Since then, Matthijsse has been committed to Right to Play (formerly Olympic Aid ). The international development aid organization aims to support children affected by war, poverty and disease around the world with the help of games and sports programs and to improve their quality of life. In 2005 she visited the Rhino Camp, a refugee camp in Uganda .

Sporting successes

At the international level, the Danish Kristine Roug was one of her biggest competitors for a long time. Matthijsse sailed into the medal ranks for the first time at the 1994 World Championships in La Rochelle , when she won the bronze medal behind Kristine Roug and the Canadian Tine Moberg Parker. A year later in North Shore City , she improved by a world championship rank and won the silver medal, again behind Kristine Roug. At the European sailing championships in Malmö in 1995 , she received her first gold medal.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , she had to admit defeat to the Dane again, but achieved her greatest success so far with the silver medal in the sailing area of Savannah . At the 1997 World Championships in San Francisco , she referred Kristine Roug to second place for the first time and became world champion. During this time, her compatriot Carolijn Brouwer had grown up another tough rival who made her life difficult on a national and international level and who had already won the 1996 World Championships in Palma de Mallorca . She finished the European Championships in 1997 in first place before the silver medalist Brouwer. At the 1998 World Championships in Travemünde, however, her compatriot won, while Matthijsse sailed to fourth place. In 1999 in Melbourne she left all competitors behind and won her second world championships, as well as the European championships off Hayling Island ( Hampshire ).

Silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney in Rushcutters Bay

At the World Championships 2000 in Salvador da Bahía , both Dutch women went empty-handed (first: Kristine Roug). However, she won her third European Championship in Murcia , so that the Dutch Association, also due to the successes in 1999, nominated Margriet Matthijsse and not Carolijn Brouwer for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney . In the Olympic Sailing Shore in Rushcutters Bay, the world sailor of the year 1999 justified the nomination with her second Olympic silver medal; the gold medal went to Shirley Robertson . Nevertheless, she was very disappointed with this result, because all of her preparation and goals were geared towards winning the gold medal and because she was the favorite in the Olympic competition because of her pre-Olympic results.

After switching to the 470 dinghy , Margriet Matthijsse was unable to build on her great successes. In this boat class , she and Lisa Westerhof won the silver medal at the World Championships in Cagliari in 2002 and the bronze medal at the European Championships in Tallinn in 2002 . The 2003 World Championships in Cadiz finished the crew in seventh place and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the Agios Kosmas Olympic sailing center in ninth place.

Overview

EM = European Sailing Championships (only places one to three), WM = World Sailing Championships (only places one to three), OLY = Summer Olympic Games (all placements).

470 dinghy , side view

• 1994: Bronze: World Championship boat class Europe
• 1995: Silver: WM Europe
• 1995: Gold: EM Europe
• 1996: Silver: OLY Europe
• 1997: Gold: WM Europe
• 1997: Gold: EM Europe
• 1999: Gold: WM Europe
• 1999: Gold: EM Europe
• 2000: Silver: OLY Europe
• 2000: Gold: EM Europe
• 2002: Silver: WM 470er (with Lisa Westerhof)
• 2002: Bronze: EM 470er (with Lisa Westerhof)
• 2004: ninth place: OLY 470er (with Lisa Westerhof)

Web links

• Sailing Club Rotterdamsche Zeilvereeniging (RZV), homepage (accessed March 9, 2009)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Margriet Matthijsse in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ), accessed March 9, 2009
2. ↑ Right to Play, international homepage ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English, accessed March 9, 2009) 
3. ↑ Right to Play, Netherlands branch, Margriet Matthijsse ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dutch, accessed March 9, 2009) 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Sailing - World and European Championships Women, Class Europe on Sport Complete.de, accessed March 9, 2009
5. ↑ databaseOlympics.com ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta, Sailing (accessed March 9, 2009) 
6. ↑ databaseOlympics.com ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Sailing (accessed March 9, 2009) 
7. ↑ Sport Complete Sailing - World and European Championships women, 470 class (accessed March 9, 2009)