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Manon van Rooijen

Manon van Rooijen
Personal information
Full name Manon van Rooijen
Nationality  Netherlands
Born (1982-07-03) 3 July 1982 (age 34)
Leerdam, Netherlands
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 63.5 kg (140 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes freestyle
Club Nationaal Zweminstituut Amsterdam

Manon van Rooijen (born 3 July 1982 in Leerdam) is a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who was a member of the Dutch Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay Team that won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She did so alongside Inge de Bruijn, Wilma van Hofwegen and Thamar Henneken.

Van Rooijen made her international senior debut at the European LC Championships 1999 in Istanbul, Turkey with 4th places in both 4 × 100 m freestyle and 4 × 100 m medley relay. One year later she started again in the European LC Championships this time it took place in Helsinki, Finland. There she started individually in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle ending up 17th and 24th. In the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay there was a 7th place. In September 2000 she competed at the Sydney Olympics where she won a silver medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay together with Inge de Bruijn, Wilma van Hofwegen and Thamar Henneken. There was also an 11th place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle.

Van Rooijen left for the United States in January 2001 to study at the University of Miami. She kept her place in the national team during the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan which turned out te be a disappointment. In both relays, 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle, she and her team were eliminated in the heats. She reached her first individual final in 2002 in Berlin at the 2002 European Aquatics Championships finishing 8th in the 200 m freestyle. There was also a bronze medal for her in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay together with Marleen Veldhuis, Chantal Groot and Wilma van Hofwegen and a 5th place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle. At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona she just missed out for a world championship medal by finishing 4th in the 4 × 100 m freestyle. She also achieved a 7th place in the 4×200 freestyle. After three years she returned home and found a place in Dordrecht, with Topzwemmen West-Nederland under the guidance of trainer-coach Dick Bergsma but failed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics due to a severe shoulder injury.


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