Sports Physician - Athlete 1968
1968
Carina Bleeker (1962-) defended the goal of the Dutch hockey team that finished sixth at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In total, she served 28 selections for the Dutch team. As a club she played for the Stichtsche Cricket en Hockeyclub, Bilthoven. After obtaining her medical degree, she specialized in Orthopedic Surgery and started a practice at the Martini Hospital in Groningen.
1968
During the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norwegian speed skater Johann Olav Koss (1968-) won the 1,500, the 5,000 and the 10,000m with a new Olympic record in every competition and even a new world record of 13: 30.55 on the 10,000m. Two years before, he had already won the Olympic gold medal at the 1,500m and the silver medal at the 10,000m. He was a true philanthropist, he donated the $ 30,000 he earned with his first gold medal to Olympic Aid for Sarajevo and his skates were sold by auction for $ 85,000 for the war victims of Sarajevo. In 1990, 1991 and 1994 he became world champion all-around and in 1990 and in 1991 he won the 1,500m at the World Cup. After the 1994 Olympics, he stopped skating and went to study medicine in Australia at the University of Queensland. However, he never practiced the medical profession, he became chairman of the IOC Athletes Commission, but also spent a lot of time promoting Olympic Aid for developing countries. His organization Right to Play promoted the rights of the child in the most disadvantaged areas of the world by having them exercise. In 2005, this organization was active with 21 projects in 21 countries and had offices in the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, England, USA and Canada, where the head office was also located.
1968
At the 1989 European Championships in Bonn, Irish swimmer Gary O'Toole (1968-) won the silver medal in the 200m breaststroke and in that same number he won the gold medal at the 1991 Universiade. He helped improve an Irish relay record five times. He was sent to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where he swam both breaststroke numbers plus the 200m medley. After graduating, he chose to specialize in Orthopedic Surgery and settled in Dublin with a special interest in oncological problems and knee surgery.
1968
Richard Tapper (1968-) was born in Canada but swam both the 400m and the 4 x 200m freestyle for New Zealand during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In 1990 he won the bronze medal with that relay team during the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. After graduating, he specialized in Surgery and after that training, he settled as an abdominal surgeon at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.
1968
At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, German Stefani Werremeier (1968-) rowed for the silver medal with the coxless two. Four years later in Atlanta, she just missed the podium with a fourth place in the coxless two. In 1990 she was crowned world champion in that event and the following year she won the silver medal. At the 1994 World Cup in Indianapolis, Werremeier switched to the coxed eight and won a new world title. After she graduated, she settled in Lostau, a small village near Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt.
