Inge De Bruijn - Biography

Last Editor: ivanoen				Inge De Bruijn Biography -   Name : Inge De Bruijn Birth date : 24 Aug 1973 Birth place : Barendrecht, Netherlands Height : 1.78 m / 5'10 Weight : 60 kg / 132 lbs Education : Sports Management - Schoevers: Rotterdam, NED Occupation : Swimmer Debut : 1991 for NED, European Championships, Athens, GRE Coach : Hans Elzerman Club : PSV Eindhoven, Eindhoven, North Brabant, NED

Inge De Bruijn Trivia -

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Inge De Bruijn Detailed Biography -

Inge de Bruijn entered swimming's Hall of Fame when she recorded 53.80 to smash Chinese swimmer Jingye Le's six-year-old 100m freestyle world record time of 54.01 (1994 world championships) at a three-day meeting in Sheffield, subsequently setting herself up for an enthralling time at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Sydney. But de Bruijn's overnight recognition as a multiple medal prospect for Sydney was boosted by a further two world records in the northern English city (50m butterfly - 24.51, 100m butterfly - 56.69). Consistent progressDe Bruijn has undoubtedly levelled the playing field. At 76th in the world (100m - 57.47) in 1995, it took her four years before she broke the 55 second mark (54.79) - the second-fastest time in the world that year. In her speciality, the 100m butterfly, de Bruijn has been regularly around the top 20 in the world, but as recently as 1997 she was in lowly 23rd place. Having little to show from previous olympic outings - indeed a "poor attitude" led to her exclusion from Holland's 1996 olympic team - or from the world championships, her main achievements can be found at European level - she is the current 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly champion. Inge de Bruijn turned 30 just a few days after the 2004 Athens Games but the Dutch swimmer is showing no signs of slowing down having won two more world titles at the 2003 championships in Barcelona. If her last Olympic campaign is anything to go by, Athens may be the stage on which to bring down the curtain on a marvellous career. She was a total star at Sydney 2000, smashing three world records in five days, claiming gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly and adding a silver in the 4x100m relay. World Rankings (50m) : 1999: 1st 50m free, 2nd 100m free, 69th 200m free, 2nd 50m butterfly, 2nd 100m butterfly 2000: 1st 50m free, 1st 100m free, 26th 50m backstroke, 1st 50m butterfly, 1st 100m butterfly 2001: 1st 50m free, 1st 100m free, 1st 50m butterfly, 3rd 100m butterfly