Floris Jan Bovelander (born 19 January 1966) is a former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, who was a member of the Dutch national squad that won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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. Six years earlier, at the Hockey World Cup in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, where he scored nine times, he won the world title with the Dutch side at the expense of host nation

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Professional athlete

Bovelander was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, and made his debut for the Netherlands national team on Wednesday, 2 October 1985, in a friendly match against

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resulting in a 3–1 win, and went on to play 241 international games, scored 215 goals, and participated in three Olympics. He was famous for his devastating

penalty corner In field hockey, a penalty corner, sometimes known as a short corner, is a penalty given against the defending team. It is predominantly awarded for a defensive infringement in the ''Field hockey pitch#Penalty circle, penalty circle'' or for a de ...

s, and was nicknamed ''Flop'', ''Floppie'' and ''Boem Boem Bovelander''. He played his last game for the Netherlands in the 1996 Olympic Hockey Final in

. Thanks in particular to two penalty corners from 'the cannon with the angel's face', the Netherlands won the Olympic title at the expense of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, 3–1. Earlier, he took all the bronze medal at the Olympics in 1988 in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and was fourth at the 1992 Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. During the

Men's FIH Hockey World Cup The Men's FIH Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics. ...

, in 1990, Bovelander was played a pivotal role in winning the world title with nine goals, a significant improvement on his first World Cup in 1986 in London, where the Dutch hockey team finished seventh. The third World Cup in which Bovelander participated was the hockey world championship (1994) in Sydney. The team lost the final after penalties from Pakistan. In 1987, Bovelander won gold with the Dutch hockey team at the

EuroHockey Nations Championship The Men's EuroHockey Championship is an international men's field hockey competition organised by the European Hockey Federation (EHF) for the top eight European national teams. It is the top division of the EuroHockey Championships. The tourname ...

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. Four years later, he picked up a silver at the European Championship in

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. His seventeen goals during that tournament are still the highest number scored by a single player during a European Championship tournament. Bovelander, nicknamed Flop, Floppie or Boem Boem, spent his entire career (fifteen seasons) with

HC Bloemendaal Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch professional field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originall ...

, the club with which he won the Dutch league title six times, one indoor title and one

EuroHockey Club Champions Cup The EuroHockey Club Champions Cup is a defunct men's field hockey competition for clubs in Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to ...

in 1987. With a tally of 276 goals he was, for many years, the top scorer in the Dutch Hockey League until he was overtaken on the 6 November 2011 by Roderick Weusthof and later by Taeke Taekema.

Post-sports career

After his hockey career, Bovelander completed his biology studies, but remained active in hockey. Among other things, Bovelander was a member of the top sport committee of HC Bloemendaal for five years, and more than a year under the national coach Joost Bellaart (2001–2004) for the national team as manager and assistant trainer. Bovelander studied medical biology in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, but nowadays mainly earns a living as an organiser of hockey camps and clinics, youth and corporate events. The company that he runs together with his brother Jeroen is called Bovelander & Bovelander. He also wrote a weekly column in the free daily newspaper '' De Pers''. Bovelander is also active as an ambassador for Right To Play. He started Bovelander Hockey Academy in Netherlands, which is notably also the technical partner of

Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre (ONTH-HPC) is a professional field hockey institute located at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. It was launched on 13 August 2019 after Government of Odisha, Tata Steel & Tata Trusts ...

situated in

Kalinga Stadium The Kalinga Stadium is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose international sports complex in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Its foundation stone was laid by then chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik in 1978. It is best known as the home ground ...

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

References

External links

*
Dutch Hockey Federation

Bovelander & Bovelander

Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bovelander, Floris Jan 1966 births Living people Dutch male field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for the Netherlands Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Haarlem Field hockey players from North Holland Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics HC Bloemendaal players 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup players 1994 Men's Hockey World Cup players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen