Erica Georgina Terpstra (born 26 May 1943) is a retired

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 ...

politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Terpstra, a swimmer by occupation, participated in the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics. She was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1977 serving from 8 June 1977 until 22 August 1994 when she became

Undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

for Health, Welfare and Sport in the Cabinet Kok I serving from 22 August 1994 until 3 August 1998. After the Dutch general election of 1998 Terpstra returned to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

serving from 19 May 1998 until 15 December 2003 when she was selected as President of the Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF).

Biography

Swimming

During the early 1960s Terpstra was a well-known freestyle swimmer in the Netherlands, specializing in the 100 meters. She participated in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

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where she came sixth in the 100m Freestyle, and fourth in the 4x100 Medley Relay. Following the Olympics she joined the HZ&PC swim team in The Hague. While a member of this team she was again chosen to be an Olympic athlete for the Netherlands and won two medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

: the bronze medal in the 4x100 metres Freestyle Relay and the silver in the 4x100 metres Medley Relay (together with Pauline van der Wildt (starting), Toos Beumer (second relay) en Winnie van Weerdenburg (third relay)). At her only individual start, on the 100m Freestyle, she finished in fourth position in the final. In addition to her Olympic exploits, Terpstra won the 1962 European championships and was champion of the Netherlands several times.

Interim years

After her swimming career Terpstra became a teacher, teaching

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immigrants. Following that she became a sports journalist.

Politics

In 1977 Terpstra was elected to the parliament for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

), just barely making it into parliament on a seat appointed to the VVD in the fractional division. She remained in parliament through 2003 though, with a four-year break (1994–1998) during which she served as state secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport in the Kok-I cabinet. Upon leaving parliament in 2003, she was the senior member of the House, having been re-elected with a large number of

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each term (311.000 in 1994).

Sports official

On 21 October 2003 Terpstra was elected chairperson of the

NOC*NSF The Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation, ( nl, Nederlands Olympisch Comité*Nederlandse Sport Federatie) generally abbreviated NOC*NSF, is the overall coordinating Dutch sports organization that also functions as the Dutch National Ol ...

, beating out Ruud Vreeman (the NOC*NSF board-nominated candidate) in the election. As chair in 2005 she was the first to present the new Fanny Blankers-Koen Trophy, which was named for legendary Dutch

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 ...

Fanny Blankers-Koen Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen (26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earn ...

. Terpstra presented the award to

Anton Geesink Antonius Johannes Geesink (6 April 1934 – 27 August 2010) was a Dutch people, Dutch List of judoka#Highest grades, 10th dan judoka. He was the first non-Japanese judoka to win gold at the World Judo Championship, a feat he accomplished in 1961 ...

Sjoukje Dijkstra Sjoukje Rosalinde Dijkstra (, born 28 January 1942) is a Dutch former competitive figure skater. She is the 1964 Olympic champion in ladies' singles, the 1960 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (1962–1964), five-time Europe ...

Nico Rienks Nicolaas "Nico" Hessel Rienks (born 1 February 1962) is a former rower from the Netherlands and two-time Olympic gold medallist. Rienks won the gold medal in the men's double sculls at the 1988 Summer Olympics, alongside Ronald Florijn. At the ...

and Ard Schenk in the new skating rink in

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, a few months before the start of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. She was supposed to award an FBK Trophy to

Johan Cruijff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a pr ...

as well, but he couldn't make it due to obligations at the pool drawing for the

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. During her tenure with NOC*NSF she was always well known for being present at every major sporting event in which Dutch athletes competed and for being exuberantly enthusiastic at every success. Terpstra retired from NOC*NSF in May 2010.

Film and television

Terpstra made her movie debut in 2004 in the movie version of the children's book Pluk van de Petteflet by Annie M.G. Schmidt. She played the role of mayor. Since early 2011 Terpstra hosts her own Travel-TV programme ''Erica op Reis'' for Dutch broadcaster

Omroep MAX Omroep MAX is a broadcaster in the Netherlands, aimed at viewers over the age of 50. MAX is broadcast on NPO 1, NPO 2, NPO 3 NPO 3 (''NPO drie'', formerly Nederland 3 until 2014) is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channel ...

Personal life

* Terpstra has a

Theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

background. She is very drawn to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Rather than considering herself a Buddhist though, she refers to herself as a "life-long student of Buddhism". * Terpstra was married and has two sons. * On 8 June 2008 Terpstra received the Major Bosshardt Prize for exceptional contributions to Dutch society. * On 10 December 2008 Terpstra presented a book entitled ''Help, I'm losing weight!'' (Dutch: ''Help ik val af!''; ). This describes how she lost 40 kilos in six months."Erica Terpstra dieet - Help ik val af" op bol.com
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Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
E.G. (Erica) Terpstra
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Terpstra, Erica 1943 births Living people Dutch sports executives and administrators Dutch sports journalists Dutch lobbyists Dutch television presenters Dutch television producers Dutch Theosophists Dutch sportsperson-politicians Dutch people of Austrian descent European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Dutch female freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Leiden University alumni Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of Utrecht Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians Swimmers from The Hague State Secretaries for Health of the Netherlands Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch women writers 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women writers Dutch women television presenters Dutch women television producers