Els Vader

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexFemale
Full nameElisabeth Cornelia "Els"•Vader (-Scharn)
Used nameEls•Vader
Born24 September 1959 in Vlissingen, Zeeland (NED)
Died8 February 2021
Measurements162 cm / 52 kg
AffiliationsZeeland Sport, Vlissingen (NED)
NOC Netherlands

Biography

Throughout the 1980s Els Vader was one of the best Dutch sprinters of her generation, winning 23 national titles, setting multiple national records, competing at three Olympic Games, and winning a bronze medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships. Vader won her first national championships in 1979 with victories in the 100 and 200 metres, and the 60 metres indoors title. Outdoors she won the 100 metres four more times (1980–82, 1984), along with six titles in the 200 metres (1980–82, 1984, 1986, 1988). At the indoor championships she won five more 60 metres titles (1980–82, 1984–85), and five 200 metres titles (1982, 1984–85, 1987–88).

Vader competed at her first Olympic Games in 1980 in Moskva where she ran in the 100 and 200 metres. In the 100 metres she finished in fourth place in her heat, enough to advance to the next round, but she did not start in her quarter-final race. In the 200 metres she reached the semi-finals but finished in last place in her heat. Four years later at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Vader ran in the same two events again where she reached the quarter-finals of the 100 metres and the semi-finals of the 200 metres. Her final Olympic Games were in 1988 in Seoul where again she reached the quarter-finals of the 100 metres and was part of the Dutch quartet that reached the semi-finals of the 4 × 100 metres relay.

In 1981 Vader set a Dutch record in the 100 metres that was not broken until 1986. A year earlier she had set a national record in the 200 metres that stood for more than 30 years until it was broken by Dafne Schippers in 2011. For her promising start to her career Vader was named as the Dutch Athlete of the Year in 1981. At the 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships she won the bronze medal in the 200 metres. Vader held another longstanding Dutch record in the same event when she ran the 200 metres indoors in a time of 23.34 seconds in February 1988. The record stood until Lieke Klaver ran 23.17 seconds in January 2021.

Vader was married to fellow Olympian and her former coach Haico Scharn. Vader died in February 2021, with Scharn dying only four months later.

Personal Bests: 100 – 11.17 (1986); 200 – 22.81 (1981).

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1980 Summer Olympics Athletics NED Els Vader
100 metres, Women (Olympic) 4 h3 r1/4
200 metres, Women (Olympic) 8 h2 r3/4
1984 Summer Olympics Athletics NED Els Vader
100 metres, Women (Olympic) 5 h1 r2/4
200 metres, Women (Olympic) 7 h1 r3/4
1988 Summer Olympics Athletics NED Els Vader
100 metres, Women (Olympic) 6 h1 r2/4
4 × 100 metres Relay, Women (Olympic) Netherlands 5 h1 r2/3

Olympic family relations

Special Notes