Roshendra Julienne Mercedes Vrolijk (born November 3, 1984) is an Aruban former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She is one of Aruba's first Olympic swimmers, alongside Davy Bisslik, and also a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004). Vrolijk made her Olympic debut, as Aruba's youngest athlete (aged 15), 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 Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, where she competed in the women's 50 m freestyle. Swimming in heat three, she edged out Armenia's Yuliana Mikheeva to pick up a sixth seed and sixty-second overall by 0.49 of a second in 29.31. In 2003, Vrolijk competed in eight events at the

Swimming at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships The Swimming competition of the 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships consisted of 40 long course (50m) events, swum July 20–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain.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 ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, her highest finish out of her eight events was 42nd in the 200 metres breaststroke, and she won her heat in the 50 metres breaststroke but it still wasn't fast enough to qualify for the next round. The next month she swam at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

held in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, she competed in the 50 metres freestyle where she finished in 23rd place out of 26 starters. At 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 ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Vrolijk was elected by the Aruban Olympic Committee to become the nation's first ever female flag bearer in the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. She qualified again for the 50 m freestyle by receiving a Universality place from FINA, in an entry time of 28.13. Swimming in heat four, she raced to a third spot by three hundredths of a second (0.03) behind Moldova's Maria Tregubova in 28.43. Vrolijk failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed forty-ninth overall out of 75 swimmers on the last day of preliminaries.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrolijk, Roshendra 1984 births Living people Aruban female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Aruba Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Aruban female freestyle swimmers People from Oranjestad, Aruba Pan American Games competitors for Aruba Swimmers at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century Dutch sportswomen 20th-century Dutch sportswomen