How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
The Stats
Country
Netherlands
Crew Names
Laila Youssifou
Tessa Dullemans
Roos De Jong
Bente Paulis
Average Age
28 years
Olympic Record
Sixth in the W4x at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Youssifou)
2024 Competitive Record
World Rowing Cup 1: 2nd (W4x)
World Rowing Cup 2: 2nd (W4x)
World Rowing Cup 3: N/A
European Championships: N/A
The Profile
The Dutch have been having a ding dong battle with the British for the past two season. They got the better of GB at the 2023 Europeans and Lucerne World Rowing Cup, but lost out to them at the world championships. This season, the Dutch have been forced to play second fiddle to the British at both the first and second World Rowing Cups. They will be keen, just as much as the British, to become the fourth country to win an Olympic quad gold medal. They have been racing together as a unit for most of the 2022 and 2023 season (although they had a slightly different line up for the 2023 Europeans due to injury). Dullemans and Paulis have been racing together since 2019 and Dullemans is the sole survivor from the Tokyo quad that finished sixth. Youssifou and de Jong have been competing together even longer; they won U23 bronze together in the BW2X back in 2015 and De Jong made her senior debut in 2017 with Youssifou joining her the following season.
About The Author
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