Marjolein van Unen

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Marjolein van Unen (born December 7, 1962 ) is a former Dutch judoka . She won four medals at judo world championships and was three times European champion. From 1997 to 2015 she was the trainer of the Dutch women's national team.

Athletic career

Marjolein van Unen competed in the heavyweight division or in the open class. In heavyweight she won six Dutch championship titles from 1978 to 1985 and was second twice. At the European Championships and the World Championships in 1980 , she finished fifth in the heavyweight division. In 1981 she won bronze at the European Championships in Madrid in both heavyweight and open classes. In 1982 in Oslo, Marjolein van Unen won the heavyweight final against the German Christiane Kieburg , making it European champion for the first time. At the 1982 World Championships in Paris, she lost to heavyweight Margaret Castro from the United States in the semi-finals , and in the battle for bronze she defeated the British Heather Ford . The next day she was defeated in the semi-finals of the open class of the Belgian Ingrid Berghmans , then she lost the battle for bronze against the German Regina Sigmund .

At the 1983 European Championships in Genoa, Marjolein van Unen lost in the heavyweight semifinals against the French Nathalie Lupino , and in the battle for bronze she won against Regina Siegmund. The following year she reached the heavyweight final at the 1984 European Championships in Pirmasens and won her second European title against Nathalie Lupino. At the 1984 World Championships in Vienna, she won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division with a victory over Regina Siegmund. In the open class she won the semi-finals against Beata Maksymow from Poland and lost to Ingrid Berghmans in the final . In 1985 at the European Championships in Landskrona, Marjolein van Unen lost in the quarterfinals of the heavyweight division against Regina Siegmund, but fought her way to the bronze medal with three wins. In the open class, she defeated the British Theresa Heyden in the semifinals . With her final victory over Karin Posch from Austria, she was European champion for the third time. At the end of her active career, Marjolein van Unen competed at the 1986 World Championships in Maastricht. In the semi-finals of the heavyweight division she defeated the Briton Joanne Spinks , the final she lost to the Chinese Gao Fenglian .

Marjolein van Unen became a judo trainer. From 1997 to 2015 she was the coach of the Dutch women's national team. Edith Bosch , Deborah Gravenstijn and Elisabeth Willeboordse won a total of six Olympic medals during this time, Edith Bosch and Marhinde Verkerk became world champions, and the Dutch women's team won team gold at both world (2010) and European championships (2012). When she resigned for health reasons in 2015, she had been the Dutch national coach longer than anyone in any sport. She has been a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau since 2016 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
  2. ↑ Dutch womens coach Marjolein van Unen steps down , message from September 10, 2015 on judoinside.com (accessed on July 7, 2019)
  3. ↑ Koninklijke Onderscheiding voor Marjolein van Unen! News from March 27, 2016 on brielsnieuwsland.nl (accessed on July 7, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Unen, Marjolein van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch judoka
DATE OF BIRTH 7th December 1962