Wim Esajas
Surinamese middle-distance runner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siegfried Willem "Wim" Esajas[1] (16 April 1935 – 30 April 2005) was a Surinamese middle-distance runner who qualified for the athletics at the men's 800 m event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy and was supposed to be the first Surinamese Olympian. Esajas missed the event, and it was alleged that he overslept,[2] whereas he was actually given an incorrect starting time for his event by Fred Glans, the head of Suriname's Olympic delegation.[1][3]
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Wim Esajas in 1960 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 April 1935 |
| Died | 30 April 2005 (aged 70) Paramaribo, Suriname |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Running |
Esajas was a multiple national record holder in the 800 m, 1500 m and 3000 m events in the 1950s, and was selected as the Surinamese Sportman of the Year in 1956.[4] He retired from sport after the 1960 Olympics, graduated in horticulture from a college in Deventer, the Netherlands, and returned to Suriname to grow flowers.[5]
In 2005, Suriname's Olympic Committee presented Esajas with a plaque honoring him as Suriname's first Olympian and with a letter of apology for the mistake made by its official in 1960. Esajas died on 30 April 2005 of an undisclosed illness. He had a son, Werner.[3]
