Ellen Meliesie

Meliesie had lived with breast cancer and its effects for several years. She spoke publicly about her diagnosis and treatment around a Landstede Hammers charity game in 2022, and the disease returned in 2024. She died in Zwolle on 10 October 2026, aged 63, with her family present. The Zwolsche Roei- en Zeilvereeniging and the KNRB announced her death on 12 October. Some early secondary summaries listed 12 October as the death date, but Dutch and international rowing reports agree that she died on Saturday 10 October. The funeral was private; the club opened for condolences on 16 October.

Ellen Meliesie was born Elisabeth Johanna Wilhelmina Meliesie on 2 January 1963 in Zwolle, in the Dutch province of Overijssel. She grew up in the city and first made her mark as a swimmer before turning to rowing. At the Zwolsche Roei- en Zeilvereeniging her coaches and clubmates soon saw the drive and talent that would take her into the national lightweight squad.

Meliesie's international breakthrough came in the women's lightweight double sculls. With Karin Hommers she won silver at the 1986 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham. In 1988 she and Laurien Vermulst became world champions in Milan. With Cindy Rip she won world bronze at Racice in 1993. She raced the lightweight single at the 1992 World Championships in Montreal and closed her international career at a World Cup event in Lucerne.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the first Games to include lightweight women's double sculls, Meliesie and Vermulst reached the final and finished sixth for the Netherlands. Olympic champion Nico Rienks later said that few people realised how strong she was as a crew rower, and that her ability to manage her racing weight helped her win medals with different partners.

After retiring from elite racing she worked as a physiotherapist for Landstede Hammers and taught at Landstede Sport & Bewegen. She also supported rowers as a physiotherapist abroad, including with the Canadian national team. At the Zwolsche she served three years as chair and was made a member of merit for her role in developing the club's facilities.

Meliesie stayed closely tied to Zwolle and to the Zwolsche Roei- en Zeilvereeniging throughout her life. Colleagues remembered her as warm, competitive and ready to help others. Basketball coach Herman van den Belt, who worked with her at Landstede Hammers and at Landstede Sport & Bewegen, described her as kind and intensely competitive. She once said of her club that everyone was treated with respect there and that people felt at home.

Meliesie is remembered as one of the outstanding Dutch lightweight women of her generation and as a lasting figure in Zwolle sport. The KNRB said the country had lost a respected former elite athlete, administrator, teacher and healthcare professional whose influence reached beyond her medals. Her club called her contribution to the association and to sport in Zwolle almost impossible to overstate. The Milan world title of 1988 and the Atlanta Olympic final remain landmarks for Dutch lightweight rowing and for the Zwolsche.