Marten Klasema

Following a brief athletics career Marten Klasema played an important role in the Zuiderzeewerken project to build dams and dikes in the Netherlands due to the destruction caused during World War II. Klasema represented V&L in Den Haag where he competed in the long jump and triple jump. He was selected to compete in both events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he placed 15th in the triple jump. A few years later he joined the Zuiderzee Works to restore part of the north of the country that had been destroyed by war. The project dealt with land reclamation and water drainage work, becoming the biggest feat of hydraulic engineering even undertaken in the Netherlands. Klasema was internationally recognised as the best in his field in dike construction and was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion and the Commander in the Order of the Finnish Lion.

Personal Bests: LJ – 7.285 (1936); TJ – 14.55 (1936).