Henk Cornelisse

Henk Cornelisse was a Dutch racing cyclist who won a bronze medal in the 4 kilometre team pursuit at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. A strong rider on both road and track, he was one of the leading Dutch amateurs of the early 1960s before spending several seasons as a professional.

Hendrik Jan Willem Cornelisse was born in Amsterdam on 16 October 1940 and grew up in the city in what Wielerflits called a true cycling family. He began racing with the Amsterdam club Olympia and for some years combined his passion for the bike with his work as a paver, laying streets. His brother Rink later rode as a professional for a season.

His breakthrough came in 1962, when he won a string of Dutch amateur races on the road, among them the Ronde van Friesland, the Ronde van Noord-Holland and the Ronde van Overijssel. In 1964 he won a stage of Olympia's Tour, the main Dutch amateur stage race, crossing the line first at Vlaardingen in May.

Cornelisse was also a fine pursuit rider, and that summer he was chosen for the Dutch team pursuit squad at the Tokyo Olympics with Cor Schuuring, Gerard Koel and Jaap Oudkerk. In the race for third place the Dutch quartet narrowly beat Australia, taking the bronze medal behind the United Team of Germany and Italy. It was the high point of his sporting life.

After the Games he turned professional and rode for a number of smaller Dutch teams between 1965 and about 1970, including Televizier, Romeo-Smith's, VRP Nederland and Aluminium Bazuin. He won two Belgian kermis races in 1965 and finished second on a stage of the Ronde van Nederland, but he did not repeat the dominance of his amateur years among the professionals and stopped racing around 1970.

The family's love of cycling carried on through his son Michel Cornelisse, who raced as a professional in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the 1989 Tour of Luxembourg, and went on to a long career as a directeur sportif.

Henk Cornelisse died on Thursday 8 October 2026, aged 85, after a short illness. His death was reported the next day by Wielerflits, which remembered him as an Amsterdammer who achieved his greatest successes on the track.