Ronald Florijn (born 21 April 1961) is a former

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

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 ...

and two-time Olympic gold medallist. Florijn won the gold medal in the men's double sculls at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, alongside Nico Rienks. 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, ...

, he repeated his gold medal performance winning the eight with coxswain event with the ''Holland Acht'' (Holland Eight). He also won five medals at the world championships in 1978–1995 in double, four and eight-manned boat races. He studied

industrial and organizational psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology) "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effec ...

at the

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and then worked for ''Arbo Unie'', one of the biggest occupational health organizations in the Netherlands. Since 2004 he runs his own company. He is a knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

References

1961 births Living people Dutch male rowers Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Rowers from Leiden Rowers from South Holland Olympic medalists in rowing World Rowing Championships medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics 20th-century Dutch sportsmen 21st-century Dutch people Leiden University alumni {{Netherlands-rowing-bio-stub