Willem van Loon

Willem van Loon ( born August 15, 1891 in Arnhem, † November 29, 1975 same place ) was a Dutch Tauzieher and Olympic silver medalist.

In the Summer Olympics 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium van Loon won jointly with Johannes Wilhelmus Bekkers, John Hengeveld, Sijtse Jansma, Henk Janssen, his brother and team captain Anthony van Loon and the brother pair and Marinus Willem van Rekum the silver medal in the tug of war. In the 17th and on August 18, 1920 held competition joined the eight -man crew, was their average weight at 85 kilograms per person in the first match against the Italian team on; the duel won the Dutch after 71 respectively 43.25 seconds 2-0. The second match against the United Kingdom went to 28.8 and 13.4 seconds with 0:2 lost, so the team had no chance for the gold medal. The following race for the silver medal against the domestic Belgian, the Dutch decided by 63.4 and 123 seconds with 2-0 in their favor. Van Loon and his team won so the first medal in Olympic history in the Netherlands.

Van Loon was a member of the Arnhemer Krachtsportvereniging Achilles.