Olivier Marteel (born 10 May 1969) is a Belgian professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

referee who officiates on the World Snooker Tour.

Career

Born in Nieuwpoort, Marteel now lives in Gijverinkhove. He first qualified as a referee in 1994, and began refereeing on the main professional tour in 2006. He took charge of his first World Snooker Championship final in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, becoming the first Belgian to referee a world final, and the second referee from continental Europe to do so, after

Jan Verhaas Jan Verhaas (; born 5 October 1966) is a Dutch snooker and pool referee. He was born in Maassluis, South Holland, and now lives in Brielle. Career After working as a process operator for Shell Chemicals, Verhaas qualified as a class 1 snooke ...

. Marteel refereed his second world final in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. In addition to the World Championships, Marteel has officiated the Masters final twice, in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

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, and the UK Championship final twice, in

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. He also plays snooker, and has achieved highest breaks of 133 in practice and 78 in competition. Marteel is a qualified nurse and has been nursing since his twenty-first birthday. He worked in the frontline as a nurse in Belgium during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite being trained as a radiologist. In the

2023 World Snooker Championship The 2023 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2023 Cazoo World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2023 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 47th consecu ...

, he prevented a

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protester from gluing herself to the table; this occurred moments after another protester had covered the opposite table in orange powder. The match overseen by Marteel resumed shortly after the interruption, while the other match was delayed to the next day.

References

External links

Marteel's profile at WST.tv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marteel, Olivier Living people Belgian referees and umpires Snooker referees and officials Pool referees and officials Sportspeople from Ghent 1969 births People from Nieuwpoort, Belgium