Maarten van der Weijden

Maarten van der Weijden (born 31 March 1981) is a Dutch former long distance and marathon swimmer born in Alkmaar. Van der Weijden won the Olympic gold in the 10 km open water marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2019, he swam the Elfstedentocht for charity, in which he raised more than €6.1 million.

Swimming career

Van der Weijden was known as a promising swimming talent in his youth, becoming Dutch national champion in the 1500 m freestyle (1998 (short course and long course), 1999 (lc) and 2000 (lc)), 400 m freestyle (1999 (sc+lc) and 2000 (lc)) and 5 km open water (2000). He also participated at the 1999 European Junior Championships and the 2000 Open Water World Championships. In 2001, he was confronted with leukemia and his career was likely to be over. After surviving cancer, he made his comeback in 2003. He qualified for the Open Water World Championships in Barcelona and won another three Dutch titles; 800 m freestyle (sc+lc) and 1500 m freestyle (lc). He became seventh over 10 and 25 kilometres at the 2004 World Open Water Championships and added a Dutch title at the 800 m freestyle (lc) and 25 km open water.

Later in 2004, he swam across the IJsselmeer in 4:20.58 hours, breaking the former record by almost 15 minutes to collect €50,000, which he donated to cancer research. In 2005, he won the Dutch title over 400 m freestyle (sc) for the second time in his career. He finished in fifth position at the World Open Water Championships over 10 km and sixth over 25 km. He also won three World Cup meetings in Ismaila, Al Fujeirah and Dubai. In 2006 he won a silver medal at the 2006 European Aquatics Championships over 10 km.