List of Famous people born in Friesland, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Mata Hari
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. Despite her having admitted under interrogation to taking money to work as a German spy, many people still believe she was innocent because the French Army needed a scapegoat. She was executed by firing squad in France.
Pier Gerlofs Donia
Pier Gerlofs Donia was a Frisian rebel leader and pirate. He is best known by his West Frisian nickname Grutte Pier, or by the Dutch translation Grote Pier which referred to his legendary size and strength.
Sven Kramer
Sven Kramer is a Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 meters at the Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, and won a record 21 gold medals at the World Single Distance Championships; eight in the 5000 meters, five in the 10,000 meters, and eight in the team pursuit. Kramer is the current world record holder in the team pursuit, and broke the world records in the 5000 meter and 10,000 meter events three times. By winning the 2010 World Allround Championship, Kramer became the first speed skater in history to win four consecutive world allround championships, and eight consecutive international allround championships. He was undefeated in the 18 international allround championships he participated in from the 2006/2007 season until the 2016/2017 season. From November 2007 to March 2009 he was ranked first in the Adelskalender, but despite his dominance as an all-round skater he has since been overtaken on that list by Shani Davis and, more recently, by his team mate Patrick Roest.
Sanne Wevers
Sanne Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She has competed internationally as a senior since 2007, primarily as a balance beam and uneven bars specialist. Wevers is the 2016 Olympic and 2018 European champion on balance beam and was the first Dutch female gymnast to become an individual Olympic champion. She is also the 2015 World silver medalist on balance beam and the 2015 European bronze medalist on uneven bars.
Fedde Schurer
Fedde Schurer was a Dutch schoolteacher, journalist, language activist and politician, and one of the most influential poets in the West Frisian language of the 20th century.
Lieke Wevers
Lieke Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She competed internationally as a senior from 2009 to 2016. She was the first Dutch woman to win a European title in gymnastics: at the 2015 European Games, she won the gold medal on the balance beam and was the bronze medalist with the Dutch team, in the individual all-around final, and on floor exercise. She also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Foekje Dillema
Foekje Dillema was a Dutch track and field athlete.
Hendrik Kloosterman
Hendrik Douwe Kloosterman was a Dutch mathematician, known for his work in number theory and in representation theory.
Pim Mulier
Willem Johan Herman Mulier, known as Pim Mulier was one of the leading figures in sporting history of the Netherlands.
Jorrit Bergsma
Jacob Jorrit Bergsma is a Dutch speed skater and marathon skater. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m.