Nico Rienks

Nicolaas "Nico" Hessel Rienks (born 1 February 1962) is a former rower from the Netherlands and two-time Olympic gold medallist.[1]

Nico Rienks

Rienks in 1988
Personal information
Born	(1962-02-01) 1 February 1962 Tiel, the Netherlands
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	96 kg (212 lb)
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	Okeanos, Amsterdam
Medal record Representing the  Netherlands Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Double scull 1996 Atlanta Eight with coxswain 1992 Barcelona Double scull World Championships 1991 Vienna Double sculls 1989 Lake Bled Double sculls 1994 Tampere Eight 1995 Indianapolis Eight

Rienks won the gold medal in the men's double sculls at the 1988 Summer Olympics, alongside Ronald Florijn. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he repeated his gold medal performance winning the eight with coxswain event with the Holland Acht (Holland Eight). He also competed at the 1984 and 2000 Olympics but finished outside the podium.[1]

With Henk-Jan Zwolle he won the gold medal in the double sculls competition at the 1991 World Rowing Championships. He also won three silver medals at the world championships in 1989 (double sculls), 1994 and 1995 (eights).[2]

He was named 'Dutch Rower of the Century' and is an honorary member of the Dutch Rowing Federation.[3] In 2004, Rienks was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal by the International Rowing Federation.[4]