Lien Veenstra

Lien Veenstra (born 4 April 1922 – 31 January 2018) was a Dutch rower and rowing coach. She was one of the first Dutch women's competitive rowers and made an important contribution to women's rowing in the Netherlands.

Lien Veenstra

Veenstra (left) next to Meike de Vlas in 1964
Personal information
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1922-04-04)4 April 1922 Winschoten, Netherlands
Died	31 January 2018(2018-01-31) (aged 95) Groningen, Netherlands
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Medal record Women's Rowing Representing Netherlands European Championships 1951 Mâcon Quadruple sculls (unofficial) 1952 Amsterdam Quadruple sculls (unofficial)

Biography

Veenstra became in 1946 a member of rowing club KGR De Hunzen in Groningen. She didn't want to practice "style rowing", what was the rowing standard for women in that era, but she wanted to practice competitive rowing. She started with competitive rowing in 1948 and so became one of the earliest Dutch competitive women rowers. At that time there were only no official championships for women. The 1951 European Rowing Championships in Mâcon, France included women events, but were see nas test events. Veenstra became European Champion in the the quadruple sculls. The next year she became again European Champion in 1952 in Amsterdam. She competed in the "official" double sculls at the 1957 European Rowing Championships in Duisburg, West Germany, but didn't win a medal. After the 1957 Championships she retired from competitive rowing.

Veenstra started with coaching in 1957. She almost only coached women's teams. Their pupils had to national and international successes. One of her pupils was Meike de Vlas. She became three times national champion, finished fifth at the 1962 European Rowing Championships in West Germany and won the first women's international medal at the 1964 European Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, where she won the silver medal in the skiff. That year she became Honorary Member of rowing club De Hunze, where she was also chairman, secretary, treasurer and competition commissioner. She would remain the chairman of the club for a long time.

She also started working for the Netherlands National Rowing Federation (KNRB). Between 1962 and 1971 she became the leader of the women's team. She also had various managerial roles within the rowing federation. She also became an honorary member of the KNRB.

Until the end of her level, Veenstra kept in touch with rowing. She died on 31 January 2018 in Groningen in a nursing home, where she lived the last years of her life.