Maarten van der Weijden
Olympic champion - gold medal - Summer Olympics Beijing 2008
Maarten van der Weijden is a Dutch long distance and marathon swimmer born in Alkmaar. Van der Weijden was known as a promising swimming talent in his youth, becoming Dutch national champion at the 1500 m freestyle 1998 (short course and long course), 1999 (lc) and 2000 (lc), 400 m freestyle 1999 (sc+lc) and 2000 (lc)) and 5 km open water (2000). He also participated at the 1999 European Junior Championships and the 2000 Open Water World Championships. In 2001 he was confronted with leukemia and his career was likely to be over. Fighting against cancer he made his comeback in 2003. He qualified for the Open Water World Championships in Barcelona and won another three Dutch titles; 800 m freestyle (sc+lc) and 1500 m freestyle (lc). He became seventh over 10 and 25 kilometres at the 2004 World Open Water Championships and added a Dutch title at the 800m freestyle (lc) and 25 km Open Water.
Later in 2004 he swam across the IJsselmeer in 4:20.58 hours, breaking the former record by almost
15 minutes to collect 50,000 Euros which he donated for cancer research. In 2005 he won the Dutch title over 400 m freestyle (sc) for the second time in his career. He finished in fifth position at the World Open Water Championships over 10 km and sixth over 25 km. He also won three World Cup meetings in Ismaila,
Al Fujeirah and Dubai. In 2006 he won a silver medal
at the 2006 European Championships in Aquatics over 10 km.
Van der Weijden had his own website named "Maarten van der Weijden zwemt tegen kanker" (Maarten van der Weijden swims against cancer) where he informed his fans about his life and his career. He also collected more money to invest for cancer research. However the website and the project were set on hold as of 30 June 2006. He won another World Cup race in Rosario, Argentina in January 2007. At the end of the World Cup calendar he finished in second position overall and during the World Championship over 10 km he finished seventh.
His aim was to become World Champion and he fulfiled this aim when he won the 25 km at the 2008 World Championships in Seville. He also won a bronze medal at the 5 km there and became fourth at the 10 km.
This result qualified him for the 10 km open water marathon race at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. There he ended up winning the gold medal on August 21, narrowly edging out David Davies of Great Britain.
