Cor Braasem

Who was Cor Braasem?

Cornelius "Cor" Braasem was a Dutch water polo player who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics and in the 1952 Summer Olympics.

He was born in Soemoeran near Sibolga on Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.

In 1948 he was captain of the Dutch water polo team which won the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics. He played all seven matches and scored six goals.

Four years later he again captained the Dutch team in the water polo tournament at the 1952 Games. He played all nine matches and scored at least five goals. Though beating all their opponents, except for a 4:4 draw against gold-medalists Hungary, the Dutch team took fifth place through a dubious incident: after the Dutch team had beaten the Yugoslavian team 3:2, the latter team challenged the result based on supposed partisanship of the referee. The Dutch lost the unlikely replay 1:2.

Braasem became a water polo coach in Barcelona in 1953 for both the Barcelona team and the Spanish national team. From 1959 to 1962 he was the coach of the Dutch national team, which took 8th place during the 1960 Summer Olympics. He also was active as a sports commentator, among other at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.