Epke Zonderland

Epke Jan Zonderland RON (born 16 April 1986) is a Dutch gymnast and 2012 Olympics gold medalist on the high bar. He has also won three World Championships titles on the high bar, at the 2013, 2014, and 2018 World Championships, the first man to achieve the feat on the apparatus. He is nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman.”

Epke Zonderland
Zonderland in 2012 after winning his London Olympics gold medal
Personal information
Full name	Epke Jan Zonderland
Nickname(s)	The Flying Dutchman The Lion of Lemmer Epic Zonderland Epke Wonderland
Country represented	Netherlands
Born	(1986-04-16) 16 April 1986 Lemmer, Netherlands
Hometown	Heerenveen, Netherlands
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International
Club	TSH Heerenveen
Eponymous skills	Zonderland (Parallel Bars): Swing forward with 5/4 twist on one arm through handstand and Healy to support with difficulty assignment of F (0.6)[1]
Medal record Olympic Games 2012 London Horizontal Bar World Championships 2013 Antwerp Horizontal Bar 2014 Nanning Horizontal Bar 2018 Doha Horizontal Bar 2009 London Horizontal Bar 2010 Rotterdam Horizontal Bar 2017 Montreal Horizontal Bar World Cup Final 2008 Madrid Horizontal Bar European Championships 2011 Berlin Horizontal Bar 2014 Sofia Horizontal Bar 2019 Szczecin Horizontal Bar 2010 Birmingham Horizontal Bar 2011 Berlin Parallel Bars 2018 Glasgow Horizontal Bar 2007 Amsterdam Parallel Bars 2014 Sofia Parallel Bars

Early life

Zonderland was born on 16 April 1986 in Lemmer, Netherlands. He started gymnastics at the age of four. He has two brothers (Herre and Johan) and one sister (Geeske) who are also international gymnasts.[2]

Zonderland enrolled to study medicine at the University of Groningen in 2006. He took 12 years to complete his degree in medicine as he was pursuing his career in gymnastics at the same time, and qualified as a doctor in 2018.[3]

Gymnastics career

2004

Zonderland reached his first international success as a junior in 2004. At the European Junior Championships in Ljubljana he was fourth in the all-around event and he won a silver medal on the horizontal bar.[2] That same year he also became Dutch national all-around champion by taking over the title from his older brother Herre.[2]

2005–2006

In 2005 at the World Championships in Melbourne, Zonderland and Jeffrey Wammes were the first ever Dutch gymnasts in the history of the sport to qualify for the all-around final.[4] Zonderland eventually ended up in the 11th position.[2] In that same year at the European Championships he finished 15th, which was a disappointment considering his World Championship result.[2]

After his success in 2005 he continued in 2006 by reaching the final of the horizontal bar competition during the European Championships in Volos, where he was 6th.[2] At the World Cup meeting in Glasgow on the same discipline he won the silver medal and in Tehran, Zonderland claimed his first World Cup win and the gold medal.[2] That year he also became Dutch national all-around champion for the second time in his career.[2]

2007-2008

In 2007 he competed in both the European and the World Championships. At the European Championships in Amsterdam he finished sixth in the all-around event, the highest ever position by a Dutch gymnast.[2] During the same Championships he also won the bronze medal on the parallel bars. Later, in September at the World Championships in Stuttgart Zonderland finished 4th on the horizontal bar, which earned him a qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[2][5] Later in 2007 he won his second World Cup event at the horizontal bar in Glasgow.[2]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Zonderland reached the high bar final in which he finished seventh.

2009–2011

In 2009, he won the silver medal on high bar at the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam, he earned another silver medal on high bar. In 2011 he became European champion for the first time.

2012 Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Zonderland won an Olympic gold medal in the high bar with a personal best score of 16.533. His routine included a triple combo of Cassina-Kovacs-Kolman, then the most difficult release combination.[6][7] His performance was regarded by many as one of the top performances of the 2012 games.[8][9][10] The first Dutch gymnast (male or female) to win an individual Olympic medal, he also won the first Olympic gymnastics medal in 84 years for the Netherlands.[11]

2013–2014

At the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Zonderland he became World champion for the first time.[12][13] He performed a double combo of Cassina-Kovacs followed by Kolman-Gaylord 2 with a stuck double-twisting double layout dismount.[14]

In 2014, Zonderland won the championship title again in high bar at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.[15] He also successfully defended his world title at the 2014 World Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China.[16]

Zonderland at the 2016 Summer Olympics

2015–2017

In April 2015, Zonderland failed to defend the European title after falling off the high bar.[17] In August 2015 he fell in training, which left him with a concussion and an injury to his thumb.[18] The injury curtailed his training times and he failed to make the final to defend his world title at the 2015 World Championship in Glasgow.[19]

In 2016, Zonderland sprained his fingers again during training in June, just before the 2016 Summer Olympics.[18] He failed to defend his Olympic title at the Olympics after falling in his high bar routine.[20]

On 16–17 September 2017, Zonderland competed at the 2017 Paris Challenge Cup in France where he won gold in the high bar individual event, scoring 14.800. He then competed at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal. In the high bar event final, he caught the bar with just one hand after a flight element, but managed to stay on with only his right hand to swing into a giant despite glaring leg separation, and successfully finished his routine. He earned a silver medal, scoring 14.233.[21]

2018–2019

In August 9–12, 2018, Zonderland competed at the 2018 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where he won the silver medal—thanks heavily to his top D-score of 6.8 that was at least ½ a point more than the next highest finalist's D-score—behind Oliver Hegi of Switzerland. At the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Zonderland won gold on the high bar at the age of 32. His routine included two double release combinations, a Cassina to Kovacs, followed by a Kolman-Gaylord 2. He became the first man to win three high bar gold medals at the World Championships.[22][23]

Zonderland competed down under at the 2019 Melbourne World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, from February 21 to 24, 2019. He and Hidetaka Miyachi of Japan scored identical highest combined scores of 14.733 in the individual horizontal bar apparatus final. However, after activating the tiebreak procedure, Zonderland was relegated to the silver medal because Miyachi's execution score number was higher than his own. Also, between April 10 and 14, 2019, at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships–an FIG championships held in Szczecin, Poland—Zonderland won his third European gold medal in the individual horizontal bar apparatus final.[24] However, he failed to qualify for the same event final at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart after an error in his routine.[25]

Honours and awards

Zonderland being received by the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte prior to the ceremony at Torentje in 2012

Zonderland was named Dutch Sportsman of the year in 2009 for his silver medal in high bar at the 2009 World Championships. He was selected Sportsman of the Year for a second time in 2011 after he won the European Championships, then again for the next two consecutive years after he won the 2012 Olympic and the 2013 World championships.[26] He was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau after he won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.[27][28]

Personal life

Zonderland married Linda Steen in September 2016.[29] Their son, Bert Eize, was born on 13 October 2018. [30]

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	FX	PH	SR	VT	PB	HB
2005	European Championships								15th
	World Championships								11th
2006	European Championships								6th
2007	European Championships		6th					3rd
	World Championships								4th
2008	World Cup Final								1st
	Olympic Games								7th
2009
	World Championships	N/A							2nd
2010	European Championships								2nd
	World Championships								2nd
2011	European Championships							2nd	1st
2012
	Olympic Games								1st
2013
	World Championships	N/A							1st
2014	European Championships							3rd	1st
	World Championships								1st
2016
	Olympic Games								7th
2017
	World Championships	N/A							2nd
2018	European Championships								2nd
	World Championships								1st
2019	European Championships								1st

References

1. Men’s Artistic Gymnastics 2017 Code Of Points – FIG, page 118
2. "Epke Zonderland - Over mij (About me)". epkezonderland.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
3. van Houten, Matthijs (25 May 2018). "Olympic champion Epke Zonderland now a doctor". Northern Times.
4. "38th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Men". gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
5. Epke Zonderland toont Olympisch vormbehoud, gelderlander.nl, ret: 3 August 2008
6. Emma John (7 August 2012). "London 2012: Gymnastic gold for true flying Dutchman Epke Zonderland". Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
7. "Olympic gymnastics: Zonderland takes men's bar gold". BBC. 3 October 2013.
8. Paul Gittings and Brooke Bowman (6 February 2013). "The most incredible sporting gamble?". CNN.
9. Ben Wyatt (31 January 2013). "London 2012's top-10 sporting moments". CNN.
10. Christopher Clarey (13 August 2012). "The Good, the Bad and the Unforgettable". The New York Times.
11. "Olympics: Epke Zonderland claims high bar gold for Netherlands". BBC. 7 August 2012.
12. "High bar gold for Epke Zonderland at gymnastics world championships". DutchNews.nl. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
13. "World Gymnastics: Epke Zonderland wins high bar gold". BBC. 7 October 2013.
14. Amanda Turner (6 October 2013). "Biles, Uchimura Win Again as Worlds End". International Gymnast Magazine.
15. "Dutch gymnast Epke Zonderland retains high bar European title". DutchNews.nl. 26 May 2014.
16. "World Gymnastics: Epke Zonderland grabs high bar gold". BBC. 12 October 2014.
17. "European Gymnastics: Epke Zonderland crashes out of high bar". BBC. 17 April 2015.
18. Reuters (4 August 2016). "Rio 2016 Olympics: Flying Dutchman Epke Zonderland desperate to get his mojo back". The Indian Express.
19. "Defending champion Epke Zonderland fails to make high bar final". DutchNews.nl. 27 October 2015.
20. "Epke Zonderland loopt olympische medaille mis na val in rekstokfinale". nu.nl. 16 August 2016.
21. "Zonderland turns error into amazing one-handed grab". BBC. 8 October 2017.
22. Stouwdam, Henk (3 November 2018). "Epke Zonderland weet: wie kan vliegen, is onaantastbaar". nrc.nl.
23. Normile, Dwight (3 November 2018). "Biles Wins All Six Medals In Doha". International Gymnast Magazine.
24. "Derde Europese titel Zonderland aan rekstok". hartvannederland.nl. 14 April 2019.
25. "Zonderland na mislukte kwalificatie op WK: 'Dit is kei- en keihard balen'". NU.nl. 8 October 2019.
26. "Epke Zonderland named Dutch Sportsman of the Year". Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 15 January 2014.
27. "Epke Zonderland Ridder Oranje Nassau". Heerenveense Courant. 15 August 2012.
28. "EPKE ZONDERLAND IN TRANEN NA ONDERSCHEIDING". RTL Boulevard. 15 August 2012.
29. "Epke Zonderland is getrouwd". NU.nl. 16 September 2016.
30. "Kersverse vader Zonderland reist dag later af naar WK". NOS.nl. 17 October 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Epke Zonderland at the International Gymnastics Federation
• The gold medal routine at the 2012 Olympics
• The gold medal routine at the 2013 World Championships
• Zonderland (parallel bars skill)

Awards
Preceded by Maarten van der Weijden Mark Tuitert	Dutch Sportsman of the Year 2009 2011–2013	Succeeded by Mark Tuitert Arjen Robben