Jan Sint

Jan Sint was the best Dutch wrestler between 1910 and 1920, a time during which the sport had a heyday in The Netherlands. The national champion represented the club “Achilles” in Wormerveer. He competed with reasonable success in two of his three Olympics (1912, 1920, 1924). In 1912, he reached round 6, equivalent to placing 6th behind four Scandinavians and the Russian Martin Klein. Sint was eventually eliminated by future bronze medalist Alppo Asikainen. In 1920, he came even closer to a medal, placing 4th in the light-heavyweight division. Sweden’s Claes Johanson shouldered him in the final after 17:32 minutes. Due to the specific rules at Antwerpen, he had to fight for silver against Johannes Eriksen from Denmark and lost by fall after 4:54 minutes. In 1924 in Paris, he was already 37 years old and obviously past his prime. He moved up to the heavyweight, but after one win and two losses, he was eliminated in round 3.

Sint was an innkeeper and ran cafés in varying places in his Wormerveer. Particularly well-known was his Café “Transvalia” with an attached theatre auditorium. Unfortunately, the wooden building burned down in 1914 but was rebuilt with money from the insurance company. When it fell prey to the flames a second time in 1919, he moved to yet another location.