Cornelli "Nelli" Antoinette Hariëtte Cooman (born 6 June 1964) is a former

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 ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se origin. At the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

, she is two-time World indoor champion, six-time European indoor champion and former world record holder, running 7.00 secs in 1986. She also won 19 national titles. Cooman grew up in Suriname in a family together with four sisters and one brother. When she was eight, the family moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in the Netherlands. She started to play

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and soon got the nickname "Miss Pele". At sixteen, she was discovered to be a very good sprinter during a sporting event at school; thus she began a career 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 ...

. Three months later, she competed in the European Junior Championships in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

and finished seventh in the

100 m 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

sprint. At seventeen, she won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the National Championships. After graduating secondary school she turned professional with

Henk Kraaijenhof Henk is a Dutch male given name, originally a short form of Hendrik. It influenced "Hank" which is used in English-speaking countries (mainly in the US) as a form of "Henry". People named "Henk" include: Academics *Henk Aertsen (born 1943), Dutc ...

as trainer. During her time as a professional athlete from 1984 to 1995 she was twice world indoor champion in the 60 m (1987 and 1989), and six times European indoor champion. At the 1986 European Indoor Championships she won in a time of 7.00 seconds, setting a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

. Because of that achievement she was elected '' Dutch Sportswoman of the year''. Her world record lasted until February 1992 and still stands as national record. Cooman took part twice in the Summer Olympics for the Netherlands: in 1988 in the 100 metres and 4 × 100 m relay and in 1992 in 100 metres. In 1995, Cooman ended her career as a professional athlete.

Achievements

Trivia

Since 1997 the Nelli Cooman Games are organised in the city of

Stadskanaal Stadskanaal () is a town and municipality with a population of 32,715 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was named after the canal Stadskanaal. From 1800 until 1900 this area was ideal for its peat mining, and so ...

. At first these games were only for youth-category competitors but they grew to be a national A-status KNAU (Royal Dutch Track and Field Union) event. Cooman is the 'honorary chairwoman' of this event.

singer

Gerard Cox Gerardus Antonius "Gerard" Cox (born 6 March 1940, Rotterdam) is a Dutch singer, cabaret artist, actor, and director. For fifteen years, he played the lead character of the Dutch sitcom ''Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon''. Life In 2018, Cox had a le ...

wrote a song about Nelli Cooman to a tune by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

References

External links

Nelli Cooman Games
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooman, Nelli 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Paramaribo Dutch female sprinters Olympic athletes of the Netherlands Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Athletes from Rotterdam Olympic female sprinters