Johan-Frederik VAN DER POLL

Van der Poll was initially coached by Jan Blankers (later coach and husband of Fanny Blankers-Koen). Good results in the 1935 season led to his selection for the 1936 Olympics. He reached the final, but was hampered by a kidney stone and placed 16th. He won the Dutch title three times before moving to the Dutch East Indies in 1938. There he fought in the Dutch army when the Japanese invaded in 1941. He still competed in athletics at his prisoner-of-war camp, before he was transferred to Japan, where he was forced to work in the mines until the end of the war, returning to the Netherlands in 1947.

Personal Best: JT – 64.49 (1937).