Mark Jacobus Louis Neeleman (born 16 April 1959, in

Baghdad, Iraq Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

) is a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

from the Netherlands. Since the Netherlands did

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Olympic Games Neeleman represented his National Olympic Committee at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

under the Dutch NOC flag. Neeleman took 8th place in the

, which was boycotted by several countries. In

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Neeleman did a second attempt in the Finn and finished on the 9th place. Neeleman missed the selection for the

1988 Olympics 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 () ...

Pusan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southe ...

. After that he switched to the

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

. With crew member Jos Schrier at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

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 ...

Neeleman took 4th place. Again in the Star and again with Jos Schrier, Neeleman took 6th place in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. His last Olympic appearance was in the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. This time with crew member Peter van Niekerk, Neeleman took 14th place in the

. Besides his Olympic sailing career Mark Neeleman took the World Championship

J/22 The J/22 is an American Trailer sailer, trailerable sailboat that was designed by Rod Johnstone as a one-design Sailing (sport), racer and first built in 1983.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition' ...

and became in total 16 times Dutch Champion over several different classes. Among them there were titles in the Youth class,

O-Jolle The O-Jolle – (Olympiajolle) – was created as the Monotype class for the 1936 Olympic Games by designer Hellmut Wilhelm E. Stauch (GER, later RSA). The boat is a Bermuda rig and the hull was originally carvel - later GRP and cold mould ...

, Finn, Regenboog, J/22,

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

. Neeleman was tactician on ''Favonius'' Swann 8o ft 3rd worlds and tactician/co-helmsman on ''Rainbow'' J-Class 2012/2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neeleman, Mark Living people 1959 births Sportspeople from Baghdad Dutch male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Finn Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Finn Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic sailors for the Netherlands Laser class sailors O-Jolle class sailors Dragon class sailors J/22 class world champions World champions in sailing for the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch sportsmen

Further reading

1980 Olympics (Tallinn)

1984 Olympics (Long Beach)

1992 Olympics (Barcelona)

2000 Olympics (Sydney)

2004 Olympics (Athens)

References