Words + photography: Merijn Soeters
Karolien Florijn is talented. She is tall, strong and capable of moving a boat. It runs in the family; her father Ronald Florijn won Olympic gold twice. In the double sculls in 1988, and in the eight in 1996.
In May the Dutch women’s squad spent three weeks on the mirror-like water of Lake Pusiano in Italy. During those weeks Florijn was trained to fit into the Dutch quad, who are reigning world champions from Sarasota. Even though she owns a handful of European and world championship medals from junior and under 23 events, it took Florijn some time to adapt to this well oiled, sculling machine. Having often rowed in the single, she was slightly late from catch through to finish.