Judith de Nijs (sometimes spelled de Nys; born 22 April 1942) is a Dutch swimmer. After setting a European record in the 400 m medley event in 1961 she shifted to

marathon swimming Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances, with being the unofficially held minimum distance. Routes are typically geographically based or buoy based. Geographical routes include crossings of channels an ...

and was ranked world No. 1 in 1964–1968 and 1970. For her achievements she was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.

Biography

Judith de Nijs was born in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

. Together with her elder sister Lenie she trained under the famous Dutch coach Jan Stender, and both became record-breaking swimmers. Judith first specialized in the 400 m medley and set a European record in this event in 1961. She then shifted to longer distances and become the national champion in the 1500 m freestyle in 1962. Since about 1962 she started competing in

. This way, she became a professional swimmer and earned prize money for the races she won. From 1964, when the point system was introduced to marathon swimming, to 1968, as well as in 1970, she was ranked world No. 1. In 1969, she became the second Dutch woman (after

Mary Kok Mary Kok (born 1940) is a Dutch swimmer. Between 1954 and 1957 she set ten world records from the young age of 15 to 17 years. These included: *440 yd freestyle *880 yd freestyle *800 m freestyle *1760 yd freestyle *100 yd butterfly *100 m butte ...

) to swim across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. On 17 January 1968 de Nijs married the

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player Bob van Berkel and changed her name to Judith van Berkel-de Nijs. They have a daughter and a son, water polo player Robert van Berkel. She remained a competitive swimmer through the 1980s–2000s, winning national titles in senior categories in 1988–2001, 2005, 2007 and 2009 (3–4 km freestyle).

International competitions

*1964 49.8 km (31 mile) Lake Ontario swim, Canada – 1st *1965 30.5 km (19 mile) Lake Ohrid race, Macedonia – 1st, 8h05min *1965 32 km (20 mile) Maratona del Golfo – Capri Napoli, Italy – 1 st, 7h04min *1965 40 km (25 mile) Alexandrium race, the Suez Canal – 1st, 10h24min *1966 40 km (25 mile) Traversée internationale du Lac St-Jean, Canada – 1st, 8h38min (race record) *1968 24-hour La Tuque Relay, Canada – 3rdWennerberg, 247 *1967 32 km (20 mile) Maratona del Golfo – Capri Napoli, Italy – 1st, 8h35min *1967 16 km (10 mile) Hamilton race, Canada – 1st, 4h45min *1968 24-hour La Tuque Relay, Canada – 1st Note, that in the 1960s, women and men competed together in marathon races.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nijs, Judith de 1942 births Living people Dutch female freestyle swimmers Dutch female medley swimmers Dutch female long-distance swimmers Sportspeople from Hilversum Swimmers from North Holland 20th-century Dutch sportswomen English Channel swimmers