Janus Ooms
J.J.K (Janus) Ooms (15 Augustus 1866, Amsterdam – 6 November 1924, Amsterdam) was a Dutch rower who was the first non-Briton to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta (in 1892).
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Ooms rowed for Neptune Rowing Club, Amsterdam, and was trained by Rudolf Meurer who also trained the Olympic champions François Brandt and Roelof Klein. In 1886, a group of interested sportsmen established a regatta in Amsterdam after meeting at the café Suisse "to establish the “Committee for the Championships of the Netherlands for gentlemen amateurs in single scull outriggers".[1]
Five years later, in 1891, Ooms won the French Rowing championship (skiff), created in 1876 (first foreigner).[2]
One year later, in 1892, Ooms became the first competitor from outside the United Kingdom to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley.[3] On his return to Amsterdam he was greeted by huge crowds and a fireworks display.[4]
After Ooms' victory, the Dutch Rowing Club awarded him a Golden Belt with the figure of a rower on it. In 1921 he passed this on to the next Dutch rower to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls Frits Eijken.[5]
References
- ^ International Rowing Regatta Amsterdam
- ^ Encyclopédie des sports. Volume 4 / sous la direction de Philippe Daryl, 1895, p.205.
- ^ Henley Royal Regatta Results of Final Races 1839–1939 Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Forgotten sports heroes: Janus Ooms
- ^ NLroei Van Oupen receives the Golden Belt Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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