Moniek Nijhuis (born 20 March 1988) is a Dutch

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 ...

who specializes 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 ...

. After she had been a professional swimmer, under the guidance of Martin Truijens, for several years she took a break from professional swimming after she missed out on the Dutch team 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 ...

. She wanted to concentrate more on her studies and train less. She still swims at De Dolfijn swimming club in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Swimming career

After she won the bronze medal in the 50 m breaststroke at the European Junior Swimming Championships 2003 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Nijhuis took part in the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2003 The 2003 European Short Course Swimming Championships were held at the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown, Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, pr ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

where she won a bronze medal in the 4×50 m medley alongside Hinkelien Schreuder, Chantal Groot and

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 ...

. At the European Junior Swimming Championships 2004 in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

she won two gold medals in the 50 m, breaking the national record of Madelon Baans, and 100 m breaststroke. In December at the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2004 The 8th European Short Course Swimming Championships was an international swimming meet organized by LEN, and held in Vienna, Austria, December 9–12, 2004. The meet featured teams from Europe, swimming in 38 short course events. It was held ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

she won a gold medal in the 4×50 m medley together with Schreuder, Dekker and Veldhuis breaking the world record.

2005/2006

In 2005 Nijhuis qualified for the

2005 World Aquatics Championships The 2005 World Aquatics Championships () or the XI FINA World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 16 to July 31, 2005. They took place in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's Island. Competition Medal standings :''o ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She ended 13th in the 50 m breaststroke, the only distance she swam. During the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2005 The European Short Course Championships 2005 were held in Trieste, Italy, from 8–11 December. Medal table Men's events 50 m freestyle 100 m freestyle 200 m freestyle 400 m freestyle 1500 m freestyle 50 m backstroke 100 m bac ...

Triest Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the regional decentralization entity of Trieste. Trieste is located at the head ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

she once again broke the world record in the 4×50 m medley, with the same team as the year before. Individually she ended 7th in the 50 m breaststroke. Nijhuis then travelled to

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 ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

for 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 ...

. There she ended 6th in the 50 m breaststroke and 25th in the 100 m. With the 4 × 100 m medley team she ended 5th alongside Hinkelien Schreuder,

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

. At the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 The European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 were held in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, from Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 December. The venue of the event was the aquatic center of Mäkelänrinteen uintikeskus, which last hosted a major ev ...

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, ...

she finished 4th in the 50 m breaststroke and 11th in the 100 m breaststroke.

2007/2008

After she failed to qualify 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 ...

, Nijhuis bettered the national record in the 50 m and 100 m breaststroke at the Long Course and the 100 m breaststroke at the short course. The

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2007 The 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships, which was the 15th edition of the continental swimming event, were held between 13 and 16 December 2007 in Debrecen, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spannin ...

were a big disappointment when she didn't reached any final. Nijhuis competed at 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: ...

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 ...

in her home country. She failed to qualify for the

when she performed disappointingly in the 100 m breaststroke. In the 50 m breaststroke she ended 6th in the final after she swam a national record in the semifinal. A few weeks after this championships Nijhuis announced that she would make a step back in her career focusing more on her study and put less hours in her swimming career.

2008/2009 season

Nijhuis broke the national record in the 50 m and 100 m breaststroke (SC) in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

at an early season meet. At the Swim Cup Eindhoven 2008 she lowered the national record in the 50 m breaststroke (LC). The week afterwards she took part in the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008 The European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008 took place in Rijeka, Croatia from 11 to 14 December 2008. Medal table Medal summary Legend: * WR = World record * ER = European record * CR = Championships record Men's events Women's ...

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. There she won her first individual medal, bronze, in the 50 m breaststroke and also reached a 6th place in the 100 m breaststroke, in both events she lowered her own national record. In the 4×50 m medley she won a gold medal 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 ...

, Hinkelien Schreuder and

equalling the world record that was set by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 2012 Olympics She competed in the 100 m breaststroke and the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Personal bests

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nijhuis, Moniek 1988 births Living people People from Losser Dutch female breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for the Netherlands European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Swimmers from Overijssel 21st-century Dutch sportswomen