Dafne Schippers (; born 15 June 1992) is a Dutch

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete. She competes primarily in the sprints, having previously participated in the heptathlon. She is the 2015 and 2017 World Champion and won silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. Schippers holds the European record in the 200 m with a time of 21.63 s and is the 6th-fastest woman of all time at this distance. She holds the national record in the 100 m and is co-record holder in the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

Early life

Dafne Schippers was born on 15 June 1992 in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Biografie
, Homepage Daphne Schippers. Retrieved on 3 June 2015. She started competing in athletics at the age of nine at the track and field club Hellas in Utrecht.

Early career

Schippers originally competed in the heptathlon and won gold medals at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics and

2011 European Athletics Junior Championships The 21st European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 21 and 24 July 2011 in the Kadriorg Stadium in Tallinn, Estonia. Russia topped the medal table with 18 medals overall, including 8 golds, ahead of Germany and Great Britain. Men's ...

. At the 2010 World Junior Championships she also won a bronze in the 4 × 100 meters relay with her team mates Loreanne Kuhurima, Eva Lubbers and

Jamile Samuel Jamile Samuel (born 24 April 1992) is a Dutch Track and field, athlete Sprint (running), sprinter, who specialises in the 100 metres, 100 and 200 metres. She won three bronze medals at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics,World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Daegu,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, she broke the Dutch national record in the 200 m in the heats in 22.69, before finishing 9th in the semifinals, missing the final by 0.04 seconds. The 4 × 100 meter relay team ( Kadene Vassell, Schippers, Anouk Hagen and Samuel) were eliminated in the heats in a national record of 43.44. In 2012, she was invited to participate at the prestigious heptathlon

Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics (sport), athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring (late May, early June). In its history, a total of three world records have been se ...

Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The Alpine Rhine valley municipality belongs to the district of Feldkirch. Population Events The town is well known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so-called Hyp ...

(Austria), where she finished 5th. She also competed at the

2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

(Finland). She finished 5th at the 200 meters. The race was disappointing after She had won her heat in 23.01 and recorded the fastest semi-final time of 22.70. The Dutch 4x100 meters relay team ( Kadene Vassell, Schippers, Eva Lubbers and Samuel), were second in 42.80, a national record, behind the German team.Sailer leads Germany to relay glory
European Athletics, 1 July 2012 A year later, she started with a third place at the Hypo-Meeting, with 6287 points. Next, she won gold in the 100 m and bronze in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

at the

2013 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships was the 9th edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty-three. It was held in Tampere, Finland from 10 to 14 July. Russia topped the medal table wit ...

. At the subsequent 2013 World Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Schippers won the bronze medal in the heptathlon, collapsing over the line after taking a massive seven seconds off her personal best in the 800 metres to see off Briton

Katarina Johnson-Thompson Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete primarily known as an elite multi-eventer, both as a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. She has been World Champion in both disciplines, and a double Commonwealth ...

and Germany's

Claudia Rath Claudia Salman-Rath ( Rath; born 25 April 1986, in Hadamar) is a German Athletics (sport), athlete who specialises in the heptathlon. Rath represented Germany at the 2010 European Championships in Athletics where she finished 11th in the 2010 Eu ...

for the bronze.Report: Heptathlon 800m – Moscow 2013
International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF, 14 August 2013 She became the first Dutch woman to win a medal in the hepthatlon at the World Athletics Championships. She improved the 200 m record during the heptathlon at the 2014 Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, her time of 22.35 being one of the best 200 m performances ever in a heptathlon. She finished third at the hepthatlon with 6545 points, a new national record. At the European championships of 2014 Schippers won gold medals in the 100 m and the 200 m. The 4x100 meters relay team, one of the favourites for the title, did not finish in the final due to a botched first baton change.

Shifting to sprinting

Her success at the 2014 European Athletics Championships prompted discussion over her long-term prospects and whether she should focus on sprinting, or continue her career in the heptathlon. In June 2015 Schippers announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that she would focus on sprinting in the run-up to the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

(China) and the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

(Brazil). The 2015 season had started well with a win in the 60 m at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, (Czech Republic). At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing Schippers won the silver medal in the 100 m and gold in the 200 m, just before Elaine Thompson.Report: women's 200m final – IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015
International Association of Athletics Federations – IAAF, 28 August 2015 Her 200 m winning time of 21.63 seconds was a new European record and made her the third fastest woman in history over that distance. The Dutch 4 × 100 meters relay team (

Nadine Visser Nadine Visser (born 9 February 1995) is a Dutch Sport of athletics, athlete. She originally specialised in the heptathlon, but eventually switched to high hurdles (60 m hurdles indoor, and 100 m hurdles outdoor). Visser is the 2017 European Athle ...

, Schippers,

Naomi Sedney Naomi Sedney (born 17 December 1994) is a Dutch sprinter. She has been most successful as the anchor of the Dutch Relay team and is co-holder of the national record 4 x 100 m relay. In 2022 her younger sister Zoë Sedney joined her in the Dutc ...

and Samuel) finished fifth in 42.32, but was disqualified for a changeover infringement.Report: women’s 4x100m final – IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015
International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF, 29 August 2015 In the heats the team had also run 42.32, a new national record.Report: women’s 4x100m heats – IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015
International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF, 29 August 2015 Her stunning victory opened her up to scrutiny about possible doping. There were questions about the acne on Schippers back and face, which can be a sign of steroid abuse. Most insiders, however, dismissed those claims, pointing out that the acne was hereditary in the family and the fast track in Beijing.Dafne Schippers’ world championship success should not mean instant condemnation
The Guardian, 30 August 2015 Next year, she won the 100 m at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon compet ...

in Amsterdam in 10.90, by 3 tenths of a second. The Dutch team led by Schippers, with Samuel, Tessa van Schagen and anchor runner Naomi Sedney won the 4x100 meters relay with a national record of 42.04.Three golds leave Poland top of the final medals table
European Athletics, 10 July 2016 At the 2016 Summer Olympics expectation was high that she would add an Olympic title to the gold medal at the 2015 World Championships, following in the footsteps of

Fanny Blankers-Koen Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen (26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earn ...

who had dominated the sprint events at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games, winning four golds.Gold all the sweeter for Schippers after Rio heartbreak
International Association of Athletics Federations – IAAF, 13 August 2017 However, she finished fifth in the 100 m final, and won the silver medal in the 200 m behind Elaine Thompson who became the first woman for 28 years to complete the Olympic sprint double.Report: women's 200m final – Rio 2016 Olympic Games
International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF, 17 August 2016 After defeat in the 200 m, Schippers remained forlorn on the side of the track for a while, took off her spikes and hurled them to one side in frustration. "I came here for gold", she told reporters, disappointment showing in her face. "I'm not happy with the silver." The Dutch relay team was eliminated in the heats due to a botched relay handover between Samuel and Schippers.

Change of coaches

After the disappointment of Rio, Schippers decided to change. She parted with

Bart Bennema Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartholo ...

as her coach, who had overseen her transition from an outstanding heptathlete, winning bronze in the IAAF World Championships Moscow 2013, into a successful 100m and 200m sprinter. Both felt that she had to try a different approach to progress, and so she decided join U.S. coach and sprint guru

Rana Reider Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star People, groups and titles * Rana (name), a given name and surname (including a list of people and characters with the name) * Rana (title), a historic ...

Inside the camp of sprint guru Rana Reider
The Telegraph, 8 July 2017 and focus on the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

in London, to defend her world title in the 200m. After winning the bronze in the

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

, she won the 200 m title, joining Jamaican

Merlene Ottey Merlene Joyce Ottey (born 10 May 1960) is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978, and continued to do so for 24 years, before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. She is ran ...

and USA’s Allyson Felix as the only athletes to successfully defend a world title in the event.Report: women's 200m final – IAAF World Championships London 2017
International Association of Athletics Federations – IAAF, 11 August 2017 “It’s a great feeling to be world champion for the second time,” she said. “I was a bit nervous beforehand, but I’m a final runner, and bring my best in finals, so I’m very grateful for the experience today. There were so many Dutch fans in the stadium, all wearing orange. To win this two times in a row is brilliant." The Dutch 4 × 100 m relay team ( Madiea Ghafoor, Schippers, Sedney, Samuel) finished 8th. For the 2018 season, the focus for the "Flying Dutchwoman of the sprints"The Flying Dutchwoman
Spikes, 10 March 2015 was on the

2018 European Athletics Championships The 2018 European Athletics Championships were held in Berlin, Germany, from 6 to 12 August 2018. The championships were part of the first European Championships with other events happening in the United Kingdom. For the second Championships in ...

at the

Olympiastadion Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to: * Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'') * Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...

in Berlin, Germany. However, it was British sprinter

Dina Asher-Smith Geraldina "Dina" Rachel Asher-Smith, (; born 4 December 1995) is a British sprinter. She is the fastest British woman on record. She won a gold medal in the 200 metres, silver in the 100 metres and another silver in the 4×100 m relay a ...

who became the star of the sprint in Berlin, winning gold on both the 100m and 200 m, as well as the 4x100 m relay. Schippers won a bronze on the 100 m and a silver on the 200 m.Dafne Schippers eindigt als tweede op 200 meter bij EK atletiek
De Volkskrant, 11 August 2018 The 4 x 100 m relay team with Schippers, Marije van Hunenstijn, Samuel and Sedney also finished second. Due to the disappointing results, the collaboration between Schippers and Reider came under scrutiny. Although Reider did prepare her for her special second world title at 200 m and bronze at 100 m at the 2017 World Championships, many other races looked rigid and she had lost her most important weapon, the 'acceleration' in the end. Due to increased power training she became more muscular, but on the track this did not lead to improvements. She could not improve her 2015 top chrono's.Samenwerking Schippers met Reider onder vergrootglas
Algemeen Dagblad, 11 August 2018 Reider suddenly left the

National Sports Centre Papendal Olympic Training Centre Papendal is the national training centre of the Netherlands, located in the Veluwe woods from Arnhem. Papendal is the home base of NOC*NSF and football club SBV Vitesse. The soccer fields are also being used as training gr ...

in the Netherlands in November 2018, and Schippers returned to her first coach, Bart Bennema.Schippers keert terug bij sprintcoach Bennema
NOS News, 28 November 2018 Nevertheless, the 2019 season was not successful. She did win a silver at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60 m race. But at the 2019 World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

, Schippers had to withdraw before the final of the 100 m with an adductor problem. She subsequently withdrew from the 200 m and the 4 x100 m relay.

Trivia

The Dafne Schippersbrug (Dafne Schippers Bridge) in Utrecht, where Schippers grew up, was opened in April 2017, and named in her honour.Bridge named after athlete Dafne Schippers opens in Utrecht
Dutch News, 3 April 2017

Competition record

¹Did not start in the final
²Did not finish in the final

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

– 10.81 (-0.3) (Beijing 2015) NR *

150 metres 150 metres is a Sprint (running), sprint event in track and field. It is a very rarely contested non-championship and not an IAAF-recognised event. Given the proportion of standard running tracks, the event typically incorporates a bend when held ...

– 16.93 (+2.0) (Amsterdam 2013) *

– 21.63 (+0.2) (Beijing 2015) NR, ER, ''3rd of all time'' *

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

– 2:08.59 (Götzis 2014) *

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

– 13.13 (-1.2) (Götzis 2014) * High jump – 1.80 m (London 2012) *

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

– 6.78 m (+0.0) (Amsterdam 2014) NR * Shot put – 14.66 m (Götzis 2015) *

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

– 42.82 m (Lisse 2014) * Heptathlon – 6545 pts (Götzis 2014) ex-NR *

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

– 42.04 (Amsterdam 2016) NR ;Indoor *

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

– 7.00 (Berlin 2016) NR * 60 metres hurdles – 8.18 (Apeldoorn 2012) * High jump - 1.74 m (Dortmund 2009) * Shot put – 13.91 m (Apeldoorn 2012) *

– 6.48 m (Apeldoorn 2015)

References

External links

* * * *
Dafne Schippers
at '' Koninklijke Nederlandse Atletiek Unie'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schippers, Dafne 1992 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Dutch female sprinters Dutch heptathletes European Athletics Championships medalists Living people Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Utrecht (city) World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists European Athlete of the Year winners World Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners IAAF Continental Cup winners Dutch Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic female sprinters 20th-century Dutch women 21st-century Dutch women