Annemieke Marileen Bes (born 16 March 1978, in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

) 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 ...

, who represented her country for the first time at 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), ...

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 a ...

. The Dutch

Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem '' Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings ( Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal' ...

helmed by

Annelies Thies Antonia Allagonna Elizabeth "Annelies" Thies (born 24 November 1969, in Groningen) is a sailor from the Netherlands. Thies represented her country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With crew members Annemieke Bes en Petronella de Jong Thies ...

and crewed by Bes and

Petronella de Jong Petronella Catharina de Jong (born 26 July 1970 in Sint Jacobiparochie) is a sailor from the Netherlands. De Jong represented her country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With helmsman Annelies Thies and fellow crew member Annemieke Be ...

took the 4th place. Bes returned to the Olympics, again in the Dutch

, during the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

this time with fellow crewmember Merel Witteveen and helmsman Mandy Mulder. The Dutch Yngling team took the Silver Medal in

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

. Bes than switched to the

Elliott 6m The Elliott 6m is an Olympic-class keelboat, designed by New Zealander, Greg Elliott. It was selected for the women's match race, match racing event for the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympics. The Elliott 6m carries a spinnaker pole and Spinnake ...

Match racing. During the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

the team with helmsman Renee Groeneveld and crewmembers Bes and Marcelien Bos-de Koning took 8th place in Weymouth.

Sailing career

Bes started sailing in 1990 and has competed at International level since 1999 where she started in the Europe class. Her best finishes were second at the Dutch Championship in 2000, seventh at the Semaine Olympique Hyeres in 2001 and at the World championship open week that year. By the end of 2001 she switched to the

class. In her first season in the Yngling class she and her team mates

and

became second in the Princess Sofia Trophy in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca ...

. The following year she finished fifth at the SPA Regatta in

Medemblik Medemblik () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. It lies immediately south of the polder and former municipality of Wieringermeer. History Medemblik was a prosperous ...

as well as fourth in the pre-Olympic event in

. 2004 proved to be a successful year and they won the Athens Eurolymp Week as well as the Princess Sofia Trophy. They sailed to a seventh position at the World Championships in Santander and a sixth position at the SPA Regatta, which earned them a spot at the

. In 2007 a team was formed of nine sailors, (among them were Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes, Merel Witteveen, Renée Groeneveld, Marije Faber, Marije Kampen and Brechtje van der Werf), that aimed and qualify for the Olympics in the

. In July 2008 Dutch national coach Maurice Paardekooper selected Witteveen, Mulder and Bes as the trio that would sail the Dutch Yngling team at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The selected team became fourth at the World Championship in

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marin ...

. Furthermore, they became second in

at the Pre-Olympics, fourth at the European Championship in

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. is one of the world's busi ...

in 2007. In 2008 there was a third place in the Olympic Class Regatta of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

And a third place at the Europeans. With Renée Groeneveld and Brechtje van der Werf she started to sail in the new Olympic women class, The

Match racing class. They finished fourth at the

Kieler Woche The Kiel Week (german: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in Europe, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting ...

Worldcup, second at the Europeans and they won the Sail for Gold Worldcup in Weymouth in September 2009 and the Prinses Sofia Worldcup event in April 2010. However this team did not qualify for the Olympics. After a team was formed with Bes, Marcelien Bos-de Koning and Mandy Mulder the qualification for the 2012 olympics was made. In the 2017-18 edition, Bes competed in the Volvo Ocean Race on Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, skippered by Aussie David Witt. The team finished in (joint) last place, alongside Dee Caffari's Turn the Tide on Plastic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bes, Annemieke 1978 births Living people Dutch female sailors (sport) Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors of the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Yngling Sailors at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Yngling Sailors at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Elliott 6m Sportspeople from Groningen (city) Volvo Ocean Race sailors

Sailing career

Further reading

2004 Olympics (Athens)

2008 Olympics (Weymouth)

2012 Olympics (Weymouth)

References