Pieter-Jan Postma

Pieter-Jan Postma

Personal information
Full name	Petrus Johannes "Pieter-Jan" Postma
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1982-01-10) January 10, 1982 Heerenveen
Height	1.89 m (6.2 ft)
Sailing career
Class(es)	Laser Radial Laser Finn
Club	Koninklijke Watersportvereniging Sneek
Competition record Representing Netherlands Olympic Games 2008 Qingdao Finn 2012 Weymouth Finn Pre- Olympics 2007 Qingdao Finn World Championships 2007 Medemblik Finn
Updated on 13 February 2014.

Pieter-Jan Postma (born 10 January 1982 in Heerenveen) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country for the first time at the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. There he took the 14th place in the Finn. Postma second Olympic appearance was during the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth. In this competition Postma took het 4th place, again in the Finn.

Personal life

Postma spent the first seventeen years of his life in Terkaple, a tiny village in Friesland. He has a sister who is four years older and a sister who is two years younger. As a child, he spent a lot of time playing football, tennis, speed skating and sailing. Postma started a study for Naval Officer on Terschelling. Between September 2002 and February 2003 he spent six months at sea due to an internship. At the beginning of 2006 he finished his studies and was then able to focus completely on his sailing career.

Sailing career

At the age of fifteen Postma took part in his first European Championship Optimist and took part in the World Championship in Dublin. Postma switched to the Laser Radial. A year later he made the change to the Laser. In December 2000 he participated in the World Junior Laser Championship in Sydney and reached 10th position. After his return of his internship at sea Postma started preparing for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. However Postma missed the Olympic qualification.

In March 2005 Postma switched to the Finn class. At the World Championship 2005 he reached 12th position. Then at the World Championship 2007 he won the silver medal as he did at the Pre-Olympic races. In 2008 Postma placed fourth at the World Championship and also reached the fourth position in Hyères and Medemblik. This all resulted in qualification for the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao.