Corne de Koning

Reason: He used to play wheelchair hockey. One day his team tried using an ergometer during a training session and he was by far the best of his team. He was then contacted by rowing coach Martin Lauriks, who asked him to compete at the 2012 Dutch indoor Para rowing championships. "In the end I went full-time for rowing and then it all went fast. I was busy with my dream of going to the Paralympics one day. Hockey wasn't a Paralympic sport so I was already thinking about switching sports. So the rowing outing came at the right time." (thijsrentier.nl, 06 May 2020; roeien.nl, 13 Nov 2015; roeien.nl, 15 Jul 2014) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (omroepzeeland.nl, 20 Dec 2021) Milestones: Competing alongside Annika van der Meer, he became the first Para rower representing the Netherlands to win gold at the world championships by securing the world title in the PR2 mixed double sculls at the 2017 edition of the tournament in Sarasota, FL, United States of America. (SportsDeskOnline, 24 Oct 2019; gors.nl, 30 Sep 2017) Additional Info: ROWING PARTNER In late 2023 he reunited with long-time rowing partner Esther van der Loos. He rowed together with van der Loos for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, after which she announced her retirement from competitive sport. He resumed competing and won silver in the PR2 mixed double sculls with Annika van der Meer at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. In 2022 he teamed up with Chantal Haenen who decided to switch to handcycling. "At the end of October, beginning of November [2023], Chantal started to have doubts. She didn't know if she had a chance of winning a medal in Paris [2024 Games] with rowing. And if you start to have doubts, you don't have the right commitment. That's when we decided it would be better if we parted ways. I started rowing in 2012 with Esther, who had been rowing for a while. Back then I was the one who could only make three strokes without piking or capsizing the boat. When we got in the boat together for the first time [in 2023], it felt like old times again after a few kilometres. Apart from wanting to perform optimally [at the 2024 Games], I also want to enjoy myself optimally so that I can conclude 11 years of top sport in a beautiful way." (parawatcher.nl, 18 Jan 2024; roeien.nl, 16 Jan 2024, 15 Jun 2023; omroepzeeland.nl, 06 Jan 2024; pzc.nl, 05 Jan 2024; Facebook profile, 29 May 2023; nlroei.nl, 08 Mar 2022)