Daniëlle de Bruijn (born 13 February 1978 in

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geogr ...

) is a

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

who represents the Dutch national team in international competitions. De Bruijn was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the

1997 Women's European Water Polo Championship The 1997 Women's European Water Polo Championship was the seventh edition of the European Water Polo Championship, organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The event took place in Seville, Spain from August 13 to August 22, 1997, part of t ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. They also won silver at the

1998 World Aquatics Championships The 8th FINA World Championships or the 1998 World Aquatics Championships were held from 8 to 17 January 1998 in Perth, Western Australia. The championships features competition in all five of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, S ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, gold at the

1999 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup The 1999 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup was the twelfth edition of the event, organised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from May 24 to May 29, 1999. Participating teams were t ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and silver at the 1999 Women's European Water Polo Championship in

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...

. All these results made them one of the favourites for the first ever women's Olympic tournament at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

held in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and they finished in fourth position in Australia. It was the start of a less successful period for the Dutch team as they got the fifth place at the 2001 Women's European Water Polo Championship in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, the 9th place at the 2001 FINA Women's World Water Polo Championship in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

and the sixth place at the

2003 World Aquatics Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. C ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. After the team failed to qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, de Bruijn retired her national career until her return at the

2007 World Aquatics Championships The 2007 World Aquatics Championships, or the XII FINA World Championships, were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007. The competition took place at three locations in central Melbourne: the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic C ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, where they finished in 9th position. They started a new campaign with a mix of experienced and talented players to work towards a new top team for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The Dutch team finished in fifth place at the 2008 Women's European Water Polo Championship in

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. In

Kirishi Kirishi (russian: Ки́риши, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously kno ...

they qualified for the

. There they ended up winning the gold medal on 21 August, beating the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

9-8 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. De Bruijn became the tournament's top goalscorer with 17 goals, including seven goals in the final. In 2008, de Bruijn was named one of ''Swimming World'' magazines 2008 Water Polo Players of the Year."Swimming World Announces 2008 Water Polo Players of the Year"
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com, ret: 22 November 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruijn, Danielle de 1978 births Living people People from Vlaardingen Dutch female water polo players Water polo drivers Left-handed water polo players Water polo players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands in water polo World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo Sportspeople from South Holland

See also

References

External links