René Mijnders

René Mijnders is the most successful Dutch rowing coach ever. He is responsible for over 40 medals won at World Championships and Olympic Games.

One of his most prestigious victories is without any doubt the Gold medal of the Dutch men's eight (the famous 'Holland Acht') at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney his women eight took the Silver and four years later at the Olympic Games in Athens the Bronze. Recently at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing Mijnders was successful again: in a fantastic race the Dutch women eight surprisingly took the Silver.

During his extended career Mijnders mainly worked for the Dutch rowing federation, but he also prepared the university team of Oxford for the Boat Race against Cambridge (1997) and was the Head Coach of Swiss National Team (2005, 2006).

At present Mijnders is Head Coach of the Dutch National Team, and responsible for both heavyweight men and women.

In the press he is called a magician who can turn anything he touches into Silver or Gold. His approach however has nothing to do with magic. His concepts are simple and crystal clear. "It's about knowing exactly what you want and how to get it. You need a good strategy to be successful. We try to train better and more intelligent than our opponents and keep one step ahead of them by innovating and creating an optimal environment for our athletes."

As a management consultant Mijnders is familiar with all sorts of organizations. "Although most companies are a lot more complex than sports, the problems usually turn out to be the same." In the end it is about the people who have to produce the result. How do you get them motivated and dedicated and working well together? What kind of leadership does this take?

Building on his rich experience Mijnders addresses these kind of topics very well in his presentations.

His topics include motivation, team performance and leadership.