Mark Hermanus Maria Veens (born 26 June 1978 in

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

, 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 , 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 ...

, who competed for his native country at three consequentive

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, starting in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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 in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, 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) The 3rd FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) were an international swimming meet organized by FINA. It was held at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden April 17−20, 1997; and featured 501 swimmers from 71 nations. Competing nations The ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, 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 for the Netherlands Sportspeople from Venray Swimmers from Limburg (Netherlands) 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 21st-century Dutch sportsmen 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-swimming-bio-stub

See also

References