Sharon van Rouwendaal
Sharon van Rouwendaal (born 9 September 1993) is a Dutch swimmer and the Olympic gold medalist in the 10 km open water marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She grew up in Soest, and later moved to France with her parents. In 2009, she moved to Eindhoven to train with Jeanet Mulder, after she had qualified for the 2010 European Aquatics Championships she changed coach to Jacco Verhaeren. As of 2014 she is coached by Philippe Lucas in Narbonne and Marcel Wouda in Eindhoven. She is noted for her versatility, and focuses on distance freestyle events. In a country known for its sprinters, she is the only elite distance swimmer. She has won several medals at European and world championships, both in open water and pool events. Junior career Van Rouwendaal won four medals in middle- and long-distance freestyle events at the 2008 European Junior Championships in Belgrade, including a gold medal in the 1500 meter in a Dutch senior record (long course). A year later, she won a gold medal at the 2009 European Junior Championships in Prague in the 400 meter freestyle. Senior career Van Rouwendaal made her senior debut at the 2008 European Short Course Championships in Rijeka. Two years later, at the 2010 European Short Course Championships in Eindhoven, she made her international breakthrough by winning two silver medals, in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke. She finished in fifth place at the 2010 world short course championships in Dubai in the 200 meter backstroke a few weeks later. At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai she won the bronze medal in the 200 m backstroke behind Missy Franklin and Belinda Hocking. 2012 Olympics The 2012 Olympics in London were Van Rouwendaal's first Olympics. She competed individually in the 100 m backstroke and 200 m backstroke but due to a shoulder injury she did not make the finals. In the 200 meter backstroke event she finished 11th in the semifinals. In the 4 × 100 m medley relay she did swim the final, finishing 6th with the Dutch team. Van Rouwendaal (swimming the backstroke lead-off leg) and her teammates Moniek Nijhuis (breaststroke), Inge Dekker (butterfly), and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (freestyle) broke the Dutch record in this event. Her shoulder injury caused her to miss the 2013 World Aquatics Championships. 2014 European Championships At the 2014 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin, Van Rouwendaal won the gold medal in the 10 km open water, upsetting reigning Olympic champion Éva Risztov of Hungary by 1.1 seconds. This was her first gold medal in a major international championship. With her teammates Marcel Schouten and Ferry Weertman she won another gold medal in the 5 km team time trial. She also won the silver medal in the 5 km, and another silver in the 400 meter freestyle in the pool behind Britain's Jazmin Carlin. She finished 5th in the 800 m freestyle final and missed the final of the 1500 m freestyle by finishing 9th in the