Jacobus Gerardus “Ko” Cornelissen (29 January 1904,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

- 10 December 1954, Amsterdam) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

boxer who was a six-time national champion. He won his first title at the age of 16. Cornelissen competed in the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. After winning the first round by decision against Alf Johan Pedersen from

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, he lost in the second round against Patrick “Paddy” Dwyer, alias Rocky, from Ireland. Cornelissen was a member of D.O.S Amsterdam for 25 years, and won several National titles: * 1920 Featherweight * 1921 Lightweight * 1923 Welterweight * 1925 Unknown weight class * 1926 Middleweight * 1927 Middleweight After his boxing career he acted for various years as a boxing referee. Shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he contracted

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

and subsequently

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

from which he died in 1954.

Jan Cornelisse

Due to sloppy administration in 1924, Cornelissen has until recently been known as "Jan Cornelisse" in official Olympic records. Of the nine Dutch boxers at the 1924 games, five were registered under the wrong name.Piet Wijker
Een kwestie van volhouden
(A matter of persistence), Vriendenband June 2012, pp. 10-13. (in Dutch)

References

1904 births 1954 deaths Welterweight boxers Olympic boxers for the Netherlands Boxers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Boxers from Amsterdam Dutch male boxers {{Netherlands-boxing-bio-stub