Mark Versfeld

Mark Versfeld

Personal information
Born	June 13, 1976 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	75 kg (170 lb)
Sport
Club	Pacific Dolphins, Vancouver
Medal record Men's Swimming Competitor for Canada World Championships (LC) Silver 1998 Perth 100 m backstroke Bronze 1998 Perth 200 m backstroke World Championships (SC) Silver 1999 Hong Kong 200 m backstroke Pan Pacific Championships Silver 1999 Sydney 4×100 m medley Silver 1997 Fukuoka 200 m backstroke Bronze 1997 Fukuoka 100 m backstroke Bronze 1997 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley Pan American Games Bronze 1999 Winnipeg 4×100 m medley

Mark Andreas Cornelis Versfeld (born June 13, 1976) is a former backstroke swimmer from Canada. At the 2000 Summer Olympics he finished in 26th position in the 100 m backstroke. He won the same event and the 200 m backstroke two years earlier, at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. At the 1998 Aquatic World Championships he won a silver in the 100 m backstroke and bronze in the 200 m backstroke, breaking a Commonwealth Record in the process. He was named Canadian Male Aquatic Athlete of the Year in 1998.

Biography

Two years after his birth, his family moved to Fort McMurray where he started swimming in a club at age 8. In 1981 his family relocated to Edmonton, and three years later to Calgary. After departure of his Calgary coach Deryk Snelling, Versfeld moved to Vancouver, where he trained with Tom Johnson and studied psychology and political science at the University of British Columbia.

Around 2002 he retired from active swimming and in 2004 moved to Perth, Western Australia where he took up surfing and swim coaching. He was part of the winning team in the Rottnest 21-km open-water relay swim in 2006, along with Australian Olympians Bill Kirby, Todd Pearson and Duncan Armstrong.

Family

His mother, Hella Rentema, is a former Olympic swimmer from the Netherlands. He has a sister, Kim, and a brother Niels, who is also a competitive swimmer.