Four UU students bring medals back to the Netherlands

Right before the summer, DUB published an overview of the UU students and alumni who would participate in the Olympic Games. There were thirteen of them. Most UU students took action on the hockey field, a sport that was quite successful in the Olympics. The Dutch hockey players achieved a unique feat in Paris by winning gold with both the women's and the men's teams.

The men won the finals against Germany, albeit without Tjep Hoedemakers, PhD candidate at UMC, who was injured in the semi-finals against Spain. "As I was lying on the ground, I knew it wasn't good," says Hoedemakers. "I went inside to be taped up, but I had to lay on the ground for ten minutes because I was so sick. I found out later that my ankle ligament was torn and the bone was damaged." UU graduate Thierry Brinkman (Law) was there and scored the opening goal of the last quarter, which resulted in an exciting fourth quarter and a German equalizer. The match had to be decided in shout-outs. The Netherlands won, despite two excellent goalkeepers.

Nervous in the stands
“I had never been that nervous. You want to win gold at all costs, but you have no influence on it anymore,” says Hoedemakers, evaluating the match. “After the final whistle, you forget all that.”

“It still feels quite bizarre and unreal, especially considering what it does to others. Many parties were held to celebrate our victory and I received more than a hundred messages with congratulations. I also heard that my colleagues watched the match together during the break and I even saw my co-promoter sitting in the stands with his daughter.”

Now back in the Netherlands, the PhD candidate will celebrate for a few more days before getting back to work. “A colleague has already sent me a message telling me to let him know when I'll be back at work, so there will be a few things going on there too.”

Two shout-outs in two days
In the women's final, the Netherlands played the finals against China, a team led by the former coach of the Dutch national team, Alyson Annan. Both UU students in the team, Luna Fokke (Information Sciences) and Frédérique Matla (Social Psychology) were on the team, but that could not prevent the Chinese from taking an early lead.

The equalizer was not scored until the fourth quarter, so shout-outs had to decide the outcome here as well. The team secured the Olympic gold thanks to an excellent goalkeeper and a good shout-out from UU alumnus Marijn Veen (Psychology).

This is Matla's second gold medal, which makes her the second-best performing UU student at the Olympic Games, behind hockey player and former Economics student Caia van Maasakker, who won two golds and one silver. Matla shares second place with the hockey player and former Philosophy student Marilyn Agliotti, who also has two gold medals.

Rowing
The other UU students competed in the rowing course. The men's eight, with UU student Jacob van de Kerkhof on board, won silver. A PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, Van de Kerkhof reached the final with the men's eight via the repechages, where they competed in an exciting race. In the end, they had to admit their superiority to Great Britain but managed to win from the US.

Eli Brouwer, a student of Bioinformatics & Biocomplexity, was referred to the B-final with the double four, which they won, earning them seventh place. A great achievement, but that makes Brouwer the only UU athlete who did not come home with a medal.

Alumni on the track
In addition to the rowing track and the hockey field, several UU alumni also took part in the event. Cathelijn Peeters (Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences) was the most successful of them. Peeters took part in the final of the 4x400m for women together with Lieke Klaver, Lisanne de Witte and Femke Bol. They got silver, far behind the US. Peeters failed to reach the finals when competing alone in the 400m hurdles.

Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate Jorinde van Klinken did not get further than seventh place in the discus throw, even though she'd won silver in both events at the European Championships in Rome.

There were also no medals for UU alumni in the other athletics events. Nick Smidt (Business Informatics) got stuck in the semi-finals in the 400m hurdles and Anne Luijten (Sustainable Development) finished 50th in the marathon.

The last two alumni competed in the mountain bike competition and triathlon. Former medical student Anne Terpstra finished her mountain bike race in ninth place. She was not the best Dutch athlete. Puck Pieterse missed out on the podium just before the end due to a flat tyre and finished in 4th place.

Former UCU student Eloi Adjavon was the first triathlete to compete for Togo in the Olympics, more specifically in triathlon. The country has only won one Olympic medal ever and Adjavon did not manage to score another one.