Manon van Rooijen (born 3 July 1982 in

Leerdam Leerdam () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The municipality was merged with the municipalities of Vianen and Zederik on 1 January 2019. The name of the new municipalit ...

) is a

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. She was a member of the Dutch Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay Team (alongside

Inge de Bruijn Inge de Bruijn (; born 24 August 1973) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic champion and a former world record-holder in multiple swimming events. Personal De Bruijn was born in Barendrecht, Netherlands. Inge is ...

Wilma van Hofwegen Willemina ("Wilma") Cornelia Adriana van Rijn-van Hofwegen (born 17 July 1971) is a former freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who was a member of the Dutch Women's 4×100 m freestyle relay Team that won the silver medal at ...

and

Thamar Henneken Thamar Nanette Henneken (born 2 August 1979 in Delft, South Holland) is a former freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who was a member of the Dutch Women's 4×100 m freestyle relay team that won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics i ...

) that won the silver medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

Swimming career

Van Rooijen made her international senior debut at the

European LC Championships 1999 The 1999 European Long Course Championships were a swimming competition held in Istanbul, Turkey from Monday 26 July to Sunday 1 August, in the 50 m pool of the Ataköy Olympic Pool Stadium. The 24th edition of the event was organised by the ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

with 4th-place fnishes in both 4 × 100 m freestyle and 4 × 100 m medley relay. One year later she started again in the European LC Championships this time it took place in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. There she started individually in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle ending up 17th and 24th. In the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay there was a 7th place. In September 2000 she competed at the Sydney Olympics where she won a silver medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay together with Inge de Bruijn, Wilma van Hofwegen and Thamar Henneken. There was also an 11th place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle.

Post-Sydney Olympics

Van Rooijen left for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in January 2001 to study at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. She kept her place in the national team during the

2001 World Aquatics Championships The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the swimming and synchronised swimming events, were ...

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Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

which turned out to be a disappointment. In both relays, 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle, she and her team were eliminated in the heats. She reached her first individual final in 2002 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

at the

2002 European Aquatics Championships The 2002 LEN European Championships were held in Berlin, Germany from Monday 29 July to Sunday 4 August 2002 at the Berlin Eurosportpark in the German capital. The 26th edition of the event was organised by the LEN. A total number of 786 swimme ...

finishing 8th in the 200 m freestyle. There was also a bronze medal for her in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay together with

Marleen Veldhuis Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis (born 29 June 1979) is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events (one individual event and three relay events). Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medal ...

Chantal Groot Chantal Groot (born 19 October 1982) is a butterfly and freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who has represented her country in many international championships since 1999. Groot's best distance is the 50 m butterfly in which she won five ...

and Wilma van Hofwegen and a 5th place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle. At the

2003 World Aquatics Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

she just missed out for a world championship medal by finishing 4th in the 4 × 100 m freestyle. She also achieved a 7th place in the 4×200 freestyle. After three years she returned home and found a place in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

, with Topzwemmen West-Nederland under the guidance of trainer-coach Dick Bergsma but failed to qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

due to a severe shoulder

injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...

Comeback

After she missed out all international tournaments in 2004 and 2005 she returned to international competition in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

to compete in the

2006 European Aquatics Championships The 2006 European Swimming Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 26 July – 6 August 2006. Disciplines include swimming, diving, synchronised swimming (synchro) and open water swimming. European Water Polo Championships for 2006 ...

. Meanwhile, she started to train with the Nationaal Zweminstituut Amsterdam where she is coached by Martin Truijens. She only started in the 4 × 200 m free ending up with an 11th place. Although she didn't meet the qualifying standards she was selected for the

2007 World Aquatics Championships The 2007 World Aquatics Championships, or the XII FINA World Championships, were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007. The competition took place at three locations in central Melbourne: the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic C ...

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and started in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay which reached the final and ended third.

2008

In 2008, she took part in 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: ...

in front of her home crowd in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

. Individually she started in the 200 m freestyle where she was eliminated in the heats but qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in the 4 × 200 m relay. A time-trial in the 100 m freestyle secured her a spot in the olympic 4 × 100 m freestyle team. She also started in the 4 × 200 m freestyle but she and Linda Bank were replaced by

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, ...

and

for the final. At the 2008 Summer Olympics she started in the heats of the 4×100 freestyle relay alongside

Ranomi Kromowidjojo Ranomi Kromowidjojo (; born 20 August 1990) is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m fre ...

Femke Heemskerk Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk (; born 21 September 1987) is a former Dutch competitive Swimming (sport), swimmerHinkelien Schreuder Hinkelien Schreuder (born 13 February 1984) is a former butterfly, freestyle and backstroke swimmer from The Netherlands, who also competed in the medley events. Schreuder won the Olympic gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay at the 2008 Oly ...

. But she and Schreuder were replaced for the final by Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis. Van Rooijen saw her teammates win the final and received a gold medal for her efforts in the heats. Together with Heemskerk, Kromowidjojo and

Saskia de Jonge Saskia de Jonge (born 22 November 1986) is a Dutch swimmer who specializes in freestyle distances of up to 200 m and is part of the Dutch national team. Swimming career De Jonge made her international debut in Helsinki at the European Short Co ...

she swam the heats of the 4 × 200 m freestyle but they failed to qualify for the final.

Personal bests

References

Dutch Olympic Committee

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rooijen, Manon Van 1982 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic swimmers for the Netherlands Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Miami Hurricanes women's swimmers Dutch expatriate swimmers in the United States University of Miami alumni People from Leerdam Dutch female freestyle swimmers European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Swimmers from Utrecht (province) 21st-century Dutch sportswomen 20th-century Dutch sportswomen