Mark Hermanus Maria Veens (born 26 June 1978 in

Venray Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a municipality and a city in Limburg, the Netherlands. The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as of July 2016. About 30,000 of those inhabitants live in the ...

, Limburg) is a 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 ) , 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 ...

, who competed for his native country at three consequentive

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

, starting in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

as a member of the 4×100 m freestyle (fifth place). Veens' finest hour came at the 1998 European Short Course Swimming Championships in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, where he ended up in second place in the 50 m freestyle. Half a year later, at the 1997 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, he won the bronze medal in the 50 m freestyle.

References

Profile on Zwemkroniek

Dutch Olympic Committee
1978 births Living people Dutch male freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands People from Venray World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Limburg (Netherlands) {{Netherlands-swimming-bio-stub

See also

References