Bettine Vriesekoop

Bettine Vriesekoop

Bettine Vriesekoop in 1979
Personal information
Born	(1961-08-13) 13 August 1961 (age 64) Hazerswoude, the Netherlands
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Sport	Table tennis
Medal record Representing the   Netherlands European Championships 1982 Budapest Singles 1982 Budapest Mixed doubles 1992 Stuttgart Singles

Hubertina Petronella Maria "Bettine" Vriesekoop (born 13 August 1961) is a former table tennis player from the Netherlands. She was European champion in 1982 and 1992 individually and in 1982 in mixed doubles. She competed at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics in singles and women doubles with the best achievement of seventh place in both events in 1988. ^[1]

Vriesekoop started playing table tennis in 1972, and between 1977 and 2002 played at top level in Europe. She won the European Championship twice and was a Dutch Champion fourteen times in the singles and sixteen times in the doubles. Until 1989 she worked with coach Gerard Bakker, ^{[1] [2]} and then worked with Jan Vlieg.

Biography

Vriesekoop was the youngest of nine siblings in a farmers family. Her father died of cancer when she was ten years old. ^{[2] [3]} In 1995 she appeared on the cover of Playboy Europe, and the issue contained an unprecedented 12-page interview with her. The money she received from Playboy helped her solve financial problems. ^[4] She retired from competition in 1997, ^[5] and in 1999 gave birth to a son, but her husband died shortly before that. While training in China she became interested in the culture and then studied Chinese language and philosophy in Leiden. Between 2006 and 2009 she worked in Beijing as a freelance correspondent for several Dutch newspapers including NRC Handelsblad. ^[4] She was selected as the "Dutch Table Tennis Player of the Century" in 2000 and as the Dutch Sportsman of the year in 1981 and 1985. ^[1]

Career highlights

Bettine Vriesekoop in 1986

Summer Olympic Games

1988, Seoul, women's singles, 7th

1988, Seoul, women's doubles, 7th

1992, Barcelona, women's singles, last 16

1992, Barcelona, women's doubles, quarter final

1996, Atlanta, women's singles, 1st round

1996, Atlanta, women's doubles, 1st round

World Championships

1979, Pyongyang, women's singles, last 16

1979, Pyongyang, women's doubles, last 16

1979, Pyongyang, mixed doubles, last 16

1981, Novi Sad, women's singles, last 16

1983, Tokyo, women's singles, last 16

1983, Tokyo, women's doubles, last 16

1983, Tokyo, mixed doubles, quarter final

1983, Tokyo, team competition, 8th

1985, Gothenburg, women's singles, last 16

1985, Gothenburg, women's doubles, last 16

1985, Gothenburg, team competition, 4th

1987, New Delhi, team competition, 4th

1995, Tianjin, women's doubles, last 16

World Doubles Cup:

1992, Las Vegas, women's singles, quarter final

World Team Cup:

1994, Nîmes, 3rd

Pro Tour Grand Finals

1996, Tianjin, women's singles, last 16

Pro Tour Meetings

1996, Kettering, women's singles, quarter final

1996, Kitaku-Shu, women's singles, quarter final

1996, Kitaku-Shu, women's doubles, quarter final

1998, Beirut, women's doubles, quarter final

European Championships

1980, Bern, women's singles, semi final

1982, Budapest, women's singles, winner

1982, Budapest, women's doubles, runner-up

1982, Budapest, mixed doubles, winner

1984, Moscow, women's singles, quarter final

1984, Moscow, women's doubles, semi final

1984, Moscow, mixed doubles, semi final

1986, Prague, women's singles, quarter final

1986, Prague, women's doubles, runner-up

1988, Paris, mixed doubles, runner-up

1990, Gothenburg, women's doubles, quarter final

1992, Stuttgart, women's singles, winner

1992, Stuttgart, women's doubles, semi final

1992, Stuttgart, team competition, 2nd

1996, Bratislava, women's doubles, runner-up

1998, Eindhoven, women's singles, quarter final

European Youth Championships

1977, Vichy, women's singles, winner (juniors)

1978, Barcelona, women's singles, semi final (juniors)

1979, Rome, women's singles, winner (juniors)

European Top-12 Championships

1978, Prague, 2nd

1979, Kristianstad, 8th

1980, Munich, 2nd

1981, Miskolc, 2nd

1982, Nantes, 1st

1983, Cleveland, 3rd,

1984, Bratislava, 2nd

1985, Barcelona, 1st

1986, Södertälje, 5th

1987, Basel, 4th

1988, Ljubljana, 2nd

1991, Den Bosch, 3rd

1992, Vienna, 9th

1993, Copenhagen, 5th

1994, Arezzo, 7th

1995, Dijon, 5th

1996, Charleroi, 3rd

1997, Eindhoven, 5th

1999, Split, 11th

Books

• Bettine Vriesekoop; 弗里斯科普 (2008). 想念北京. 安徽教育出版社. ISBN   978-7-5336-5092-6.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2009). Het Jaar van de Rat. Bezige Bij b.v., Uitgeverij De. ISBN   978-90-6005-889-3.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2009). Bij de Chinees. Bezige Bij b.v., Uitgeverij De. ISBN   978-90-6005-969-2.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2011). Duizend dagen in China. Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Uitgeverij. ISBN   978-90-388-9399-0.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2013). Heimwee naar Peking. Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Uitgeverij. ISBN   978-90-388-9670-0.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2015). Dochters van Mulan, Hoe Vrouwen China Veranderen. Brandt, Uitgeverij. ISBN   9789492037008.
• Bettine Vriesekoop (2021). Het China gevoel van Pearl S. Buck, Brandt, Uitgeverij, ISBN 978 94 93095 44 1

Awards
Preceded by Annie Borckink	Dutch Sportswoman of the Year 1981	Succeeded by Annemarie Verstappen
Preceded by Ria Stalman	Dutch Sportswoman of the Year 1985	Succeeded by Nelli Cooman

References

1. Bettine Vriesekoop Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine . sports-reference.com
2. Jaap Bloembergen (1 February 1997) Het meisje van de lange lijdensweg. retro.nrc.nl
3. Nieuwe Leidse Courant, 13 Jan. 1972
4. Bettine Vriesekoop. bettinevriesekoop.nl
5. Canupnet Archived 19 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine . hal-pc.org

External links

• (in Dutch)
• ITTF Profile