Ben Schwietert (born 16 February 1997) is a Dutch competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who specializes in freestyle.

Career

Schwietert participated in his first international championships at the 2015 European Short Course Championships in

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel. He was eliminated in the heats of the 50, 100, and 200 meter freestyle. In the 4×50 m mixed freestyle relay, he won the bronze medal together with Jesse Puts,

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, ...

, and

Ranomi Kromowidjojo Ranomi Kromowidjojo (; born 20 August 1990) is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m frees ...

. At the

2016 European Aquatics Championships The 2016 European Aquatics Championships took place from 9 to 22 May 2016 in London, United Kingdom, in the London Aquatics Centre. It was the thirty second edition of the event, and the second held in the same year as a Summer Olympics. Hosts Gr ...

in London, he won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m mixed freestyle relay together with

Sebastiaan Verschuren Sebastiaan Verschuren (born 7 October 1988) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialized in short- and middle-distance freestyle events. At the 2016 European Aquatics Championships he won the gold medal in the 200 meter freestyle. He par ...

Maud van der Meer Maud van der Meer (born 20 May 1992) is a former Dutch competitive swimmer. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay (she only competed in the heats) and the silver medal at the 2015 ...

, and Kromowidjojo. He also won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay for swimming in the heats. Individually Schwietert competed in the 100 meter freestyle. Schwietert qualified for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio de Janeiro in the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay. He swam in the heats and helped the relay team qualify for the final, where it finished 7th.

Personal life

Schwietert was born in the Netherlands, but between ages 1 to 14 he lived abroad with his family. He learned to swim in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia, and started swimming competitively in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China. In 2011 he moved back to the Netherlands.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwietert, Ben 1997 births Living people Dutch male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Nijmegen 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people