A lot of Olympic medals for TU Delft students and alumni

With a record 15 gold medals, these Olympic Games were the most successful ever for the Netherlands. This was also the case for TU Delft’s top athletic students and alumni. An overview.

• Jan Driessen (Biomedical Engineering) and his team mates Dimeo van der Horst, Arvin Slagter and Worthy de Jong made history by winning the first basketball medal for the Netherlands. The ‘Orange Lions’ were too strong for the host country France in the 3×3 competition, winning 19-18. Under the watchful eye of Crown Princess Amalia, De Jong won gold for the Netherlands by shooting a buzzer-beater.
• Rowers Laila Youssifou (Engineering & Policy Analysis), Tessa Dullemans (Civil Engineering) and Roos de Jong (Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences) won a silver medal, coming in second across the finishing line in the double four. They led the way for much of the rowing final, but were overtaken by the rowers from the United Kingdom just before the finishing line.
• Silver also went to Ralf Rienks (Mechanical Engineering) in the Dutch Men’s Eight.
• Hockey player Justen Blok (Civil Engineering) won gold in the men’s hockey team. Oranje played Germany in the final and, won after shootouts. The regular match ended 1-1. It is the first Olympic title for men’s hockey since the 2000 Games in Sydney.
• Swimmer Sean Niewold (Mechanical Engineering) won a place in the Olympics in May at the very last moment after swimming the 100 metre freestyle in the second fastest time in the Netherlands, but did not win the 100 metre freestyle in Paris.
• Reserve Willemijn Mulder (Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics) did not compete.
• Alumna Annette Duetz (Applied Physics) and Odile van Aanholt won gold in sailing. After a tense final race in the 49erFX class, the pair thought they had reached the finishing line while the finish was a bit further along, but they still managed to win their gold at the last minute.
• Alumnus Stef Broenink (Biomedical Engineering) and his teammate Melvin Twellaar rowed their way to silver in the double two.

Innovations

TU Delft researchers too made contributions to the country’s Olympic achievements. Aerodynamics expert Wouter Terra was involved in the design of the new cycling gear which eventually helped win 10 medals in the BMX, road cycling and track cycling competitions.

Terra also designed a tear free suit for kitesurfer Annelous Lammerts. Lammerts won bronze in the new Olympic discipline of kite foiling.