Pieter Jan Postma
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Pieter Jan Postma (born January 10, 1982 in Heerenveen) is a Dutch sailor.
The first seventeen years of his life Postma spends in Terkaple, a tiny village in Friesland. He has a four year older sister and a two year younger sister.[1] He was an outdoor interested kid and spent a lot of time playing football, tennis, speed skating and sailing.[1]
At the age of fifteen he took part in his first European Championship which he sailed in the Optimist class and in the same year he also took part in the World Championship in Dublin.[1] He switched to the Laser Radial class and already came up with some decent results on that level, however international results were not as notable yet.[1] A year later he made another change to the Laser class and during this period he spends 50 percent of his time on sailing at Terschelling.[1] In December 2000 he participated in the World Junior Laser Championship in Sydney and reached the 10th position. At the Senior World Championship he finished in 58th position and at the European Championship he reached the 21st spot.[1] Between September 2002 and February 2003 he spend six months at sea due to an internship for school.[1] After his return he weighed 86 kg (190 lb), which was 8 kg (18 lb) more than before the internship and he had to go on a diet and then started to prepare for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[1]
Postma decided to go to Australia for four months and temporary set his education on hold. Together with Tom Slingby (the 2007 World Champion) and Michael Blackburn (the 2006 World Champion) he trained every day on the Australian waters and at his return in the Netherlands he beated all his Dutch opponents during the selection races.[1] During the World Championship he came within reach for an Olympic ticket with only one more race to go. Eventually this was the crucial race as he only finished in 13th position that race, which threw him down in the rankings and as a result he missed the Olympic qualification.[1] Despite the failure he still participated and won in the Sneekweek and he also became Dutch National Champion.[1] He tried to qualify to become a crew member during the Volvo Ocean Race for which the qualification procedure was held in Porti Mao. He got nervous and in the end he just missed the qualification.[1]
In March 2005 he switched to the Finn class and he started his study again. The training sessions went correct, but during the World Championship he lacked concentration and ended up in 26th position.[1] In the beginning of 2006 he finished his study and now he was able to focus completely on his sailing career. He started training every day and traveled on his own to Split, Athens, Palma de Mallorca and Hyeres.[1] Besides the physical part of the training sessions he also spent more time on the mental part, and the progression was visible.[1] At the World Championship he reached the 12th position. He appointed a coach, got several sponsors and found himself a girlfriend.[1] 2007 turned out to be his breakthrough year with a sixth place in Miami, a second place in Fort Lauderdale, a third place in Palma de Mallorca, a 7th in Hyeres and a second spot in Medemblik.[1] Then at the World Championship he won the silver medal as he did at the Pre-Olympic races.[1] In 2008 he placed fourth at the World Championship and he also reached the fourth position in Hyeres and Medemblik. This all resulted in qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[2]
