Mien Klaver

As a young girl, Mien Klaver started with gymnastics beffore getting interested in athletics. In 1930 she was one of the founders of the ADA (Amsterdam Dames Atletiekvereniging) women’s athletics club. Although Klaver was one of the best Dutch sprinters in the early 1930s, she was not in the initial team for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and heard two weeks before departure that she was selected to travel with the Dutch team.

In Los Angeles Klaver had a run-off with Jo Dalmolen for the fourth spot in the relay team, which she lost. After that event, it was too late to enter Klaver for another event, so she never took part in an Olympic event, although she attended both the Opening and Closing Ceremony. After the Los Angeles Games, Klaver retired in 1933 from athletics due to the economic crisis, and started a grocery store in Amsterdam with her future husband. In 2018 she passed away at the age of 107 years.