Odile van Aanholt / Annette Duetz

Odile van Aanholt was born on January 14, 1998 in Willemstad, Curaçao, where her sailing loving parents had settled. Her father, Cor van Aanholt, competed in the Laser at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She grew up with four siblings who all sail, and the sport was part of the family from the start.

She showed early promise, becoming South American Optimist champion in 2013 at just 14 years old, then taking silver at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. She came up through the 49erFX with partner Marieke Jongens before teaming with Elise de Ruijter, and the pair won both the World and European titles in 2021.

Van Aanholt then partnered with Annette Duetz, and the two became one of the standout teams in the class, winning world titles in 2022 and 2024 and taking Olympic gold at Paris 2024 in Marseille, beating strong Swedish and French rivals in a tight finish. That autumn, she also stepped outside the 49erFX to helm for the Dutch women's team at the Women's America's Cup in Barcelona, reaching the final six with little prior AC40 foiling experience.

After Duetz's retirement in 2025, van Aanholt helped launch an open call inviting athletes from any sport to trial for her new campaign toward LA2028. Nearly eighty women applied. Former field hockey player Karlinde van Arendonk was selected, and the two now sail together for TeamAllianz's Olympic program under head coach Aaron McIntosh.

Van Aanholt married fellow sailor Bart Lambriex, a two time 49er world champion, in 2025, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Kato, last July.

Annette Duetz was born on June 29, 1993 in Bergh, Netherlands, into a sailing family. Her mother, Marion Bultman, competed at the 1988 Olympics, and her father, Hans Duetz, became world champion in 1982. She grew up spending summers on the water in Friesland and joined the national 29er training program at age 13, where she first crossed paths with Annemiek Bekkering and coach Kaj Böcker.

Duetz and Bekkering teamed up in the 49erFX in 2014 and quickly became one of the strongest pairings in the class. They made their Olympic debut together at Rio 2016, finishing seventh, then went on to win back to back world titles in 2018 and 2019, becoming the first crew to do so twice in the class. Their partnership peaked at Tokyo 2020 with an Olympic bronze medal.

After Bekkering's retirement, Duetz teamed up with Odile van Aanholt. The new partnership picked up right where the old one left off, winning world titles in 2022 and 2024 and capping it off with Olympic gold at Paris 2024, sailed in Marseille.

Alongside her sailing career, Duetz studied Applied Physics at Delft University of Technology, graduating in 2022 with a thesis on wind forecasting in Marseille, the very venue where she'd go on to win gold. She was knighted in the Order of Orange Nassau in August 2024 in recognition of her achievements.

In October 2025, after twelve years at the top level, Duetz announced her retirement from Olympic sailing. She leaves the sport as one of the most decorated skiff sailors in the world: three Olympic Games, one gold and one bronze, and four 49erFX world titles.