Joan van den Akker (born 16 January 1984 in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

) is a former Dutch sprinter. Already at the age of six Van den Akker became interested in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

, although she loved riding,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

streetdance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, ...

as well. When she was twelve years old she started competing in the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

, because she liked doing all the events. Gradually her sprinting talent came to the surface, however and in 2002 she was present at the World Junior Championships in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

, finishing a good 6th and 7th in the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

respectively. In 2003 Joan van den Akker participated in the World Championships in

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 ...

as a member of the Dutch

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

team, together with

Jacqueline Poelman Helina Jacomina (Jacqueline) Poelman (October 5, 1973) is a former Dutch sprinter. Poelman was born and raised in Leek and trained at an athletics club in Roden. Her first major international tournament were the 1991 European Junior Championshi ...

, Pascal van Assendelft and

Annemarie Kramer Anna Maria 'Annemarie' Kramer (born 15 February 1975 in Haarlem) is a former Dutch sprinter. She started with athletics at the age of twelve and soon found out that she had a special talent for the sprinting events. She was a five-time Dutch spr ...

. The team nominated itself for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, realising the twelfth time out of twenty teams in competition. And although the final remained beyond reach, the Dutch four set a season’s fastest time, scoring 43.96. The same relay formation as in the preceding year participated at the Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. They were however eliminated in the series due to a mistake in the changing area. In April 2007 Van den Akker, who became Dutch 100 metres champion in 2004, announced her withdrawal from athletics. She claimed no longer to be able to cope with the continuous series of foot injuries, since all kinds of treatments had brought no improvements.

Personal bests

Outdoor *

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

- 11.35 (2004) *

- 24.33 (2002) Indoor * 60 metres - 7.44 (2004)

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akker, Joan Van Den 1984 births Living people Dutch female sprinters Olympic athletes for the Netherlands Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands Sportspeople from Delft Athletes from South Holland Olympic female sprinters 21st-century Dutch women