Elise Matthysen (born 13 July 1992 in

Kalmthout Kalmthout () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises the villages of Kalmthout, Achterbroek, Heide, Kalmthout, Heide, and Nieuwmoer. In 2021, Kalmthou ...

) is a retired Belgian swimmer who specialised in

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

. During the

2008 European Aquatics Championships The 2008 LEN European Aquatics Championships were held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, from 13–24 March 2008. They were the European championships for swimming (50 m), diving and synchronised swimming for 2008. Two new events were contested: ...

she came 4th in the final of the 100 m breaststroke in which she broke the national record of

Brigitte Becue Brigitte Becue (born 18 September 1972) is a retired breaststroke and medley swimmer from Belgium, who competed for her native country at four consecutive Summer Olympic Games, starting in 1988. In 1989, she won the silver medal in the women's 2 ...

. With this excellent performance, she managed to qualify herself for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. At the Olympics, while still only 16 years of age, she qualified for the semi-finals for both the 100 m breaststroke and 200 m breaststroke with a new Belgian record; eventually she finished respectively 13th and 16th overall. In the period after the 2008 Olympics, Matthysen suffered both physically and mentally, mainly the result of weight problems. In December 2010, she hired Brigitte Becue as her coach, but Becue could not turn the tide and on 8 November 2011 Becue announced that Matthysen was retiring from swimming and focusing fully on her studies. At that point in time, she was still holder of the national record for the 100 m breaststroke.

References

Belgian female breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Belgium Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 1992 births Living people 21st-century Belgian sportswomen {{Belgium-swimming-bio-stub