Pieter van den Hoogenband

Pieter van den Hoogenband

Personal information
Full name	Pieter Cornelis Ruud Martijn van den Hoogenband
Nickname(s)	VDH The Flying Dutchman The Dutch Dolphin Hoogie The Dutch Rudder
Nationality	Netherlands
Born	(1978-03-14) 14 March 1978 Maastricht, Netherlands
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Medal record Men’s swimming Representing the Netherlands Olympic Games 2000 Sydney 100 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 200 m freestyle 2004 Athens 100 m freestyle 2004 Athens 200 m freestyle 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 50 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 1998 Perth 4×200 m freestyle 2001 Fukuoka 50 m freestyle 2001 Fukuoka 100 m freestyle 2001 Fukuoka 200 m freestyle 2001 Fukuoka 4×100 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 100 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 200 m freestyle 2007 Melbourne 200 m freestyle 1998 Perth 200 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 50 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 1999 Hong Kong 4×200 m freestyle 1999 Hong Kong 4×100 m freestyle 1999 Hong Kong 200 m freestyle European Championships (LC) 1999 Istanbul 50 m freestyle 1999 Istanbul 100 m freestyle 1999 Istanbul 200 m freestyle 1999 Istanbul 50 m butterfly 1999 Istanbul 4×100 m freestyle 1999 Istanbul 4×100 m medley 2002 Berlin 100 m freestyle 2002 Berlin 200 m freestyle 2004 Madrid 200 m freestyle 2006 Budapest 200 m freestyle 1997 Seville 4×200 m freestyle 2000 Helsinki 50 m freestyle 2000 Helsinki 100 m freestyle 2000 Helsinki 200 m freestyle 2004 Madrid 100 m freestyle 1997 Seville 4×100 m freestyle 2000 Helsinki 4×200 m freestyle 2006 Budapest 100 m freestyle 2008 Eindhoven 4×100 m freestyle European Championships (SC) 1998 Sheffield 200 m freestyle 1998 Sheffield 4×50 m freestyle 1999 Lisbon 100 m freestyle 1999 Lisbon 200 m freestyle 2001 Antwerp 200 m freestyle 2003 Dublin 100 m freestyle 2003 Dublin 200 m freestyle 2003 Dublin 4×50 m freestyle 1998 Sheffield 100 m freestyle 1999 Lisbon 50 m freestyle 2001 Antwerp 100 m freestyle 2001 Antwerp 4×50 m freestyle 1998 Sheffield 50 m freestyle 1999 Lisbon 4×50 m freestyle 2001 Antwerp 50 m freestyle Goodwill Games 1998 New York 200m Freestyle 1998 New York 4x100m Freestyle 1998 New York 100m Freestyle 2001 Brisbane 4x100m Medley

Pieter Cornelis Ruud Martijn van den Hoogenband (born 14 March 1978) is a Dutch former swimmer and a triple Olympic champion.

Personal life

Born in Maastricht, Limburg, the son of Cees-Rein van den Hoogenband and Astrid Verver, a former Dutch 800 m freestyle silver medalist at the European Junior Championships, he grew up in Geldrop, where he swam for PSV Eindhoven. His father is a team doctor with the professional football team of the same club. In 1993, Van den Hoogenband achieved his first successes, performing well on the European Youth Olympic Days. He and his wife, former medley swimmer Minouche Smit, had their first child, a daughter named Daphne, on 23 June 2007. Their second child, a son, Sander was born on 13 September 2009.

Swimming career

Prior to the Atlanta Games, Astrid van den Hoogenband, who was coaching the Dutch team, became frustrated with the swimmers representing the Netherlands, feeling they had much potential but would not be able to live up to it due to lack of adequate support. She pleaded with Cees to take action, as he carried much weight from his professional connections. After Astrid threatened to remove Pieter from the sport, Cees created a small foundation and signed up 20 initial sponsors who each paid $2,500 to fund a team trainer. The Dutch swimming team eventually signed contracts with Philips, Nike, and Speedo. Enough funds were raised to open a swim school in Eindhoven, Van den Hoogenband's place of residence. The team eventually grew to ten. Pieter remained the Netherlands' brightest star, and along with fellow Dutch Inge de Bruijn brought the Netherlands many victories in the sport.

1996 Olympics

His international breakthrough came at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Only 18 years old, Van den Hoogenband exceeded the expectations of many by finishing 4th in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle respectively. He won the 50m freestyle B final, also finishing 5th in the 4x100m freestyle relay, 7th in the 4x200m freestyle relay & 10th in the 4x100m medley relay.

2000 Olympics

After winning 6 gold medals at the 1999 European Championships, he was one of the favourites at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but his adversaries were formidable. In the 200 m freestyle he faced the world record holder, Australian youngster Ian Thorpe, favourite of the home crowd in Sydney. In the semi-finals, Van den Hoogenband set a new world record, but Thorpe countered with a time only 0.02 s slower. In an exciting final, Van den Hoogenband equalled his time from the semi-finals to win the gold medal. In the 100 m freestyle, Van den Hoogenband again set a world record in the semi-finals and won his second gold medal, defeating the 1992 and 1996 champion, Alexander Popov. His 100 m world record stood until March 21, 2008 and was broken by France's Alain Bernard (47.60). van den Hoogenband won two more medals, both bronze, in the 50 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle relay, in which he was the final swimmer.

He was named the 2000 Male World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine .

2001 and 2003 World Championships

At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Van den Hoogenband won four silver medals in the 50, 100, 200 and 4×100 m freestyle events. He split a 46.70 in the medley relay which stood as the highest 100m freestyle split until it was topped in 2008 by US relay veteran Jason Lezak.

2004 Olympics

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won a gold medal in the 100 m freestyle and two silvers in the 200 m freestyle and the 4×100 m freestyle relay. He swam an anchor leg of 46.79 in the 4×100 m freestyle relay which was the 2nd fastest split in history.

2008 Olympics

He returned to the Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing by finishing fifth in the 100 m freestyle. He retired after the race. In the semifinals he broke his own national record that stood from 2000 Summer Olympics bringing it to 47.68 s.

In making the 100 m freestyle final, Van den Hoogenband became the first swimmer to make the finals in the same event four times.

See also

• List of swimmers
• Dutch records in swimming
• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games

References

• Swim Rankings profile
• Zwemkroniek Template:Nl icon