Mark de Jonge (born 15 February 1984) is a Canadian male

sprint canoeist Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed sprint canoes or sprint kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. The term is still in use today ...

, primarily specializing the 200 m kayak event. De Jonge won a bronze medal in the K-1 200 m at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He is the two time reigning world champion in same event having also won a silver medal at the

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two top-tier Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation (the other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). They ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. He is also the current Pan American champion in the 200 having won gold in

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at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

, where he also won an additional bronze, and a silver and bronze at previous editions of the Pan Am Games. He was named the

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Athlete of the Year in 2015 for Canada.

Career

Born in Calgary in 1984, de Jonge moved to Halifax in 1997 where he started kayaking. His parents enrolled him in the popular local sport at the Maskwa Aquatics Club as a way of getting to know other children in the area. Despite being a competitive kayaker he missed out on the 2004 and 2008 editions of the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. He did win a silver medal at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

in the men's K-4 1,000 metres event, alongside Angus Mortimer, Jeremy Bordeleau and Chris Pellini. In the

he won bronze in the K-1 200 metres event. When the quick sprint 200 m event was added to the Olympics de Jonge saw his opportunities flourish, as the event suited his skill set aptly. Yet he missed out on most of the qualifying events after he dropped an 80lb weight on his finger training in 2012. Despite the injury he still managed to win the national trials and qualify for the

. There he won a bronze in the inaugural event. After he said "Obviously, I did want gold. But I was never thinking about the result. I’m happy with the bronze. I’m really happy that I had an awesome race out there, three really good races at the Olympics. I’m proud that, when the time came, I was really ready to go." De Jonge built off the Olympic success winning his first world cup medal the following year, he then won a silver in the 200 at the

2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was held 29 August–1 September 2013 in Duisburg, Germany. The championships were awarded originally to Szeged, Hungary, but Szeged was moved to 2011 in the wake of Vichy, France's withdrawal in 2010 a ...

. At the

2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was held from 6–10 August 2014 in Moscow, Russia. They were chosen at an ICF board of directors meeting in Budapest on 10 April 2010. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are broken up i ...

he won his first world championships title while also setting the world record in the semi-finals on his way to the title. With the win in

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he said that "For years I've sort of dreamed of this moment." de Jonge repeated as world champion at the 2015 world championships and in December was named the 2015 Air Canada athlete of the year through an online voting process. In May 2021, de Jonge was named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team.

Personal

De Jonge graduated from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in Halifax with a degree in civil engineering in 2009. He worked full-time for three years with Stantec Consulting as an engineer-in-training before he took a leave of absence to focus on kayaking before the 2012 Olympics. In 2018 he was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history.

References

Canadian Olympic Committee

External links