Pieter-Jan Postma
Personal life. Postma spent the first seventeen years of his life in Terkaple, a tiny village in Friesland. He has a sister who is four years older and a sister who is two years younger. As a child, he spent a lot of time playing football, tennis, speed skating, and sailing. Postma started a study for Naval Officer on Terschelling. Between September 2002 and February 2003 he spent six months at sea due to an internship. At the beginning of 2006 he finished his studies and was then able to focus completely on his sailing career. Sailing  career. At the age of fifteen Postma took part in his first European Championship Optimist and took part in the World Championship in Dublin. Postma switched to the Laser Radial. A year later he made the change to the Laser. In December 2000 he participated in the World Junior Laser Championship in Sydney and reached 10th position. After his return of his internship at sea Postma started preparing for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. However Postma missed the Olympic qualification. In March 2005 Postma switched to the Finn class. At the World Championship 2005 he reached 12th position. Then at  the World Championship 2007 he won the silver medal as he did at the Pre-Olympic races. In 2008 Postma placed fourth at the World Championship and also reached the fourth position in Hyères and Medemblik. This all resulted in qualification for the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao.