Marleen Veldhuis

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Marleen Veldhuis bigraphy, stories - Swimmer

Marleen Veldhuis : biography

29 June 1979 –

Magdalena Johanna Maria ("Marleen") Veldhuis (born 29 June 1979 in Borne, Overijssel) is a recently retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She is world record holder in four events (one individual event and three relay events). Veldhuis has won eight world championships gold medals and 20 European championships gold medals. In the Olympics, she won a bronze medal in London 2012 at the 50m freestyle, as well as three relay medals: bronze in Athens 2004, gold in Beijing 2008, and silver in London 2012.

Personal bests

Short course www.zwemkroniek.com swimrankings.net
Event Time Date Location
50 m freestyle WR 23.25 2008-04-13 Manchester, United Kingdom
100 m freestyle ER 51.74 2008-12-21 Amsterdam, Netherlands
200 m freestyle 1:55.56 2008-12-21 Amsterdam, Netherlands
50 m butterfly 25.88 2007-10-13 Aachen, Germany
100 m butterfly 57.00 2008-12-20 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Long course
Event Time Date Location
50 m freestyle WR 23.96 2009-04-19 Amsterdam, Netherlands
100 m freestyle NR 53.17 2009-04-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands
200 m freestyle 1:58.26 2006-12-01 Eindhoven, Netherlands
50 m butterfly 25.33 2009-04-19 Amsterdam, Netherlands
100 m butterfly 56.69 2009-04-17 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Early life

Veldhuis was born on 29 June 1979 in Borne in the Netherlands. She was brought up in the eastern part of the Netherlands.

Swimming career

Marleen Veldhuis is a former water polo player which she combined with swimming. After she decided to focus completely on swimming, Veldhuis made her international debut during the 2002 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin, at the relatively late age of 23, where she won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m freestyle as part of a team with Manon van Rooijen, Chantal Groot and Wilma van Hofwegen. At the end of the year, she competed in Riesa for the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2002. There she won bronze medals in both relays, 4×50 m freestyle and 4×50 m medley.

Breakthrough

In April 2003 she joined Topzwemmen Amsterdam (TZA) to train as a full-time professional under the guidance of Fedor Hes. At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships it turned out to be a great decision as she reached two individual finals in the 50 m freestyle ending 7th, and in the 100 m freestyle finishing 8th. In Barcelona she also reached the final in all relay events but did not win a medal. In December she participated in the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2003 where she won her first international titles in the 50 m freestyle and the 4×50 m freestyle. In Dublin she also won silver in the 100 m freestyle and bronze in the 4×50 m medley. 2004 started off with the 2004 European Aquatics Championships in Madrid. There Veldhuis won two silver medals in the 4×100 m freestyle, together with Chantal Groot, Annabel Kosten and Inge Dekker, and individually in the 100 m freestyle. At the end of the week there was a bronze medal in the 4×100 m medley relay alongside Stefanie Luiken, Madelon Baans and Chantal Groot.

2004 Olympics

At the 2004 Summer Olympics Veldhuis made her Olympic debut at the age of 25 and won the bronze medal in the 4×100 m freestyle, together with Inge de Bruijn, Inge Dekker and Chantal Groot. Her individual results at the Olympics were slightly disappointing with the 9th place in the 50 m freestyle and the 11th place in the 100 m freestyle. She was the anchor lady in the 4×100 m medley, she took over from de Bruijn who swam the butterfly leg, finishing 6th.