Jacobus Gerardus “Ko” Cornelissen (29 January 1904,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

- 10 December 1954, Amsterdam) was a

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boxer who was a six-time national champion. He won his first title at the age of 16. Cornelissen competed in the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

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. After winning the first round by decision against Alf Johan Pedersen from

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, he lost in the second round against Patrick “Paddy” Dwyer, alias Rocky, from Ireland. Cornelissen was a member of D.O.S Amsterdam for 25 years, and won several National titles: * 1920 Featherweight * 1921 Lightweight * 1923 Welterweight * 1925 Unknown weight class * 1926 Middleweight * 1927 Middleweight After his boxing career he acted for various years as a boxing referee. Shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he contracted

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

and subsequently

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

from which he died in 1954.

Jan Cornelisse

Due to sloppy administration in 1924, Cornelissen has until recently been known as "Jan Cornelisse" in official Olympic records. Of the nine Dutch boxers at the 1924 games, five were registered under the wrong name.Piet Wijker
Een kwestie van volhouden
(A matter of persistence), Vriendenband June 2012, pp. 10-13. (in Dutch)

References

1904 births 1954 deaths Welterweight boxers Olympic boxers for the Netherlands Boxers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Boxers from Amsterdam Dutch male boxers 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-boxing-bio-stub