Wilhelmus Christiaan Franciscus "Willy" van Bladel (born 26 March 1960 in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

) 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 , 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 represented his country at the

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, ...

. With Huub Lambriex as crew, Van Bladel took the 11th place in the

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

. At 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 ...

Van Bladel made his second appearance in the Olympic regattas with his brother

Cees van Bladel Cornelis Wilhelmus Nicolaas "Cees" van Bladel (born 2 May 1962 in Eindhoven) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Pusan. With his older brother Willy van Bladel as crew, Van Bladel took ...

as crew. They took 9th place.

Professional life

Van Bladel studied BBA, Business Administration at the Nyenrode University (1978–1981). He nowadays is owner of the company ''Hoblad b.v.''. Since 2007, Wil is head coach of the Flemish Olympic team (VYF). He is the primary coach of Evi Van Acker.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Eindhoven Dutch male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Tornado Sailors at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Tornado Olympic sailors for the Netherlands Vaurien class sailors 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-yachtracing-bio-stub