- Merel Witteveen
-
Olympic medal record Competitor for 
NetherlandsWomen's Sailing Silver 2008 Beijing Yngling class Merel Witteveen (born May 12, 1985 in Leiden) is a Dutch sailor.
Witteveen started sailing in 1995 and competes in international level since 1999 where she started in the Optimist class.[1] After a 19th position at the European Championship in Athens she switched to the Europe class, which was an Olympic class at that time.[1]
In 2002 she became second at the Dutch national Championships and she repeated that in 2003. In between she won another silver medal at the European Junior Championship.[1] A fourth silver medal was won at the United 4 sailing event.[1] At the Open Week World Championships in Spain she finished 9th and her next goal was to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics, but these came to early and she failed to qualify.[1] After the Olympics the Europe class was removed from the Olympic calendar and it was replaced by the Laser Radial. After feeling disappointed about the choice of the IOC Witteveen decided to change to that class.[1] She became second in the Olympic Sailing Week in Split and at the 2005 European Championship also in Croatia she finished in 14th position.[1] Due to a knee injury at the end of 2005 she was unable to sail in the 2006 season.[1] In that year she finished her bachelor of her Physics and Astronomy study at the University of Amsterdam. She also learned Spanish and she traveled through South America.[1] During her study she was also a successful rower as her and her student team mates of Nereus won the rankings of first year students. She also won silver medals at the Henley Women's Regatta and the Head of the Charles in Boston.[1]
Despite the successes in rowing and in the Laser Radial Witteveen decided to sail with Lisa Westerhof in the 470 class and aim for qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[1] This did not turn out to be a success, but she was added to a team of seven sailors that aimed and qualify for the Olympics in the yngling class. In July 2008 national coach Maurice Paardekooper selected Witteveen, Mandy Mulder and Annemieke Bes as the trio that will form the Dutch yngling boat at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Marije Faber, Renee Groeneveld, Marije Kampen and Brechtje van der Werf were not chosen in the team.[2]
External links
References
Categories:- 1985 births
- Living people
- Dutch yacht racers
- Sailors at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic sailors of the Netherlands
- Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands
- People from Leiden
- Olympic medalists in sailing
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