Willem Scato van Walt Meijer (born 8 July 1958 in

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 ...

) is a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Since the Netherlands did

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Olympic Games Van Walt Meijer represented his National Olympic Committee at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

, which was boycotted by several countries, in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

under the Dutch

NOC A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...

flag. With

Govert Brasser Govert Jacob Willem Brasser (born 24 April 1957, in The Hague) is a sailor from the Netherlands. Since the Netherlands did boycott the Moscow Olympic Games Brasser represented his National Olympic Committee at the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was ...

as crew, Van Walt Meijer took the 5th place in the

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

. Van Walt Meijer returned as crew with Boudewijn Binkhorst in the

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

to the 1984 Olympics. There they took 8th place.

Sailing career

Van Walt Meijer started his international sailing career in the

Vaurien The Vaurien is a dinghy designed by Jean-Jacques Herbulot in 1951, and presented in the Boat show in Paris in 1952. It was meant as a reasonable alternative for a boat with a crew of two, as much for its low cost, as for its simplicity to sail. Th ...

. Via the

470 __NOTOC__ Year 470 ( CDLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Iordanes (or, less frequently, year 1223 '' ...

he moved to the

. After the 1980 Summer Olympics Van Walt Meijer briefly tried in 1982 the

Soling The Soling is an open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the 1972 Olympics (Kiel) until the 2000 Olympics (Sydney) as " Open Three Person Keelboat". Besides the Olympic career of the Soli ...

and the Australian

18ft Skiff The 18 ft Skiff is considered the fastest class of sailing skiffs. The class has a long history beginning with races on Sydney Harbour, Australia in 1892 and later in New Zealand. The boat has changed significantly since the early days, bring ...

before he continued his Olympic career in the

. Nowadays Van Walt Meijer sails on an irregular basis in the

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

and the

Melges 24 The Melges 24 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Reichel/Pugh as a one-design racer and first built in 1993. The design became an accepted World Sailing international class in 1997. Production The design has been buil ...

Professional life

Van Walt Meijer studied from 1976 till 1983 on the

Groningen University The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

and on the

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

– Kellogg School of Management from 2002 till 2003. After his military service at the

Koninklijke Militaire Academie The Royal Military Academy ( nl, Koninklijke Militaire Academie or ''KMA'') is the service academy for the Dutch Army, the Dutch Air Force and the Royal Marechaussee. Located in Breda, Southern Netherlands, the KMA has trained future officers sin ...

of the

Dutch Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

Van Walt Meijer held the following positions: *

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

1984–2004 ** Marketing & Sales Managers positions at Calvé ** Business Unit Head Foods

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

** Marketing Director Ireland ** Strategy Member Foods Division ** Senior Vice President Foods Central &

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

** CEO

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

** Senior Vice President Frozen Foods * CEO The Greenery 2004–2005 *

Royal Friesland Foods Royal Friesland Foods (Koninklijke Friesland Foods N.V.) was a Dutch company that developed, produced and sold branded dairy products and fruit-based drinks. Royal Friesland Foods had a strong presence in Western Europe, Central Europe, West Afr ...

2005–2008 ** Interim manager Central Europe ** CEO Friesland Foods Cheese & Leader Classic Dairy * CEO Midoceanbrands 2008–2012 * Non-Executive Director & Head of the Audit Committee Milkiland 2010 – Present * Managing Director International Markets Polyconcept & Polyconcept Hong Kong Ltd. 2013 – Present

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Living people 1958 births Sportspeople from Rotterdam Dutch male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Tornado Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic sailors for the Netherlands {{Netherlands-yachtracing-bio-stub