Solko Johannes van den Bergh (4 June 1854 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

– 25 December 1916 in The Hague) was a Dutch

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

. Van den Bergh was a notary by profession who on 6 June 1880 married the noble Sophia Emma Nicoletta van Limburg Brouwer in

Zeist Zeist () is the Capital city, capital and largest town of the Zeist (municipality), municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht (province), Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of " ...

. Together with his friend

Henrik Sillem Hendrik "Henrik" Sillem (12 August 1866 in Amsterdam – 13 July 1907 in Courmayeur, Italy) was a Dutch jurist, mountaineer and shooting sports, sport shooter. Personal life and education Henrik Sillem was the son of Johann Gottlieb Sill ...

and the Frenchman François Monod he initiated the first "international shooting matches" (world championships in shooting) in 1897 in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. These were the forerunners of the

matches A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

that were held in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1900, now considered to have been part of the Olympics. Van den Bergh participated in these and won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

with the Dutch pistol team. His son Gerard van den Bergh won also one of the matches at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

References

External links

*
Article in Journal of Olympic History
Dutch male sport shooters Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic shooters for the Netherlands Shooters at the 1900 Summer Olympics 1854 births 1916 deaths Sportspeople from The Hague Olympic medalists in shooting Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics {{Netherlands-sportshooting-bio-stub