Edith van Dijk (born 6 April 1973 in
Haastrecht
Haastrecht is a town on the Hollandse IJssel river in the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a commun ...
) is a Dutch
swimmer and 6-fold world champion. She is
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
's most successful
open water swimmer and
long distance swimmer, whose career started in 1990 taking part in the Dutch IJsselmeermarathon.
Biography
She starts out at
Gouda's swimming club DONK, the swimming portion of the soccer team of the same name. At DONK teammates gave her the nickname Piaf, due to her having the same first name as
Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
. She was invested as a
Knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
of the
Order of Orange Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...
and was awarded a Doctorate in Economy from
Erasmus University in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
.
In the years following the 1990 IJsselmeermarathon she finds her place between the world's top. Her definitive breakthrough is during the
European championships of 1995 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, where she wins the silver medal on the longest distance in open water swimming, that of 25 kilometer. The next high is reached in less than three years in
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 i ...
, where she wins two medals at the
world championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
: silver on the 5 kilometer and bronze on the 25 kilometer.
Another two years later, when first separate open water world championships were held off the coast of
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
, she hit on the 10 and 25 kilometers. From then on, Van Dijk – living in
Wognum
Wognum () is a former municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Wognum received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1392 but lost them in 1426. In 2007 it merged with the municipalities of Medemblik a ...
and competing for the club SG Hoorn/Zeemacht, always stood on the podium at every major international tournament. In addition to this she also decorated herself with high classifications in the World Cup circuit, including ultra-long races, of more than seventy kilometers in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In 2001, 2002, and 2003 she is nominated for the honor title of ''Dutch Female Sporter of the Year''.
Erica Terpstra
Erica Georgina Terpstra (born 26 May 1943) is a retired Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a commun ...
, herself a top swimmer, performed the wedding ceremony, wedding Edith with
Hans van Goor
Hans van Goor (born 1970 in Zwaag, North Holland) is a retired Dutch long distance swimmer who won a silver medal at the 1993 European Championships. He also swam the English Channel on 4 September 1995 in a time of 8 h and 02 mins, whi ...
on 20 March 2003 in
Oudewater
Oudewater () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands.
History
The origin of the town of Oudewater is obscure and no information has been found concerning the first settlement of citizens. It is also difficult to recover the name of Oud ...
,
Netherlands
)
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, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
On 13 August 2003 she swam across the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
between
Calais and
Dover. In a time of 9 hours and 8 minutes (official time) she reached the French Coast. She had aimed to improve the official Dutch and European Record by her husband and coach Hans van Goor, who performed the same crossing in 1995 in a time of 8 hours and 2 minutes.
After her Channel-adventure Van Dijk attempted to qualify for the
2004 Summer Olympics in
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 ...
. In spite of her training efforts she did not manage to qualify; she was not fast enough for even the longest distance of pool swimming, the 800 meters
freestyle.
In 2005, she decided to end her long and impressive career. She closed it in style: at the
world championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
of 2005 in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
she won the bronze in the 5 kilometers, and gold on both the 10 and 25 kilometers, thereby annoying her everlasting rival from
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
with whom she fought a number of duels,
Britta Kamrau
Britta Kamrau-Corestein (born 6 April 1979 in Rostock) is a German long-distance swimmer. She is a former European champion at the 5 km, 10 km and 25 km open water distances and former world champion at the 25&n ...
. The last race of Holland's most praised marathon swimmer was in December 2005 at the Dutch Short Course Championships (25 meter pool) in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
At the end of 2005, the leading American magazine
Swimming World
''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...
names her long-distance swimmer of the year.
On 22 December 2005 she was elected
Sport female of the year 2005. The jury composed of Dutch top athletes chose her instead of judoka
Edith Bosch
Edith Bosch (born 31 May 1980) is a Dutch judoka.
Her Olympic debut was at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where she finished seventh. She won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the middleweight division. She was also European champi ...
(World and European Champion in 2005) and rower
Marit van Eupen
Marit van Eupen (born 26 September 1969 in Arnhem) is a rower from the Netherlands.
Together with Kirsten van der Kolk she participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney where they finished in sixth position in the lightweigh ...
(World champion in 2005).
Edith also played a role in the 2006 Argentinian Movie
Agua where she plays herself in a documentary about swimmers, doing an interview about her life as a swimmer.
In August 2007, she announced her comeback, in order to try to win an Olympic medal at the
2008 Summer Olympics. In
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 ...
, open water swimming featured on the Olympic program for the first time. Despite winning a silver medal in the 25 km at the
2008 world championships three months before the Olympics, she finished only
14th in the Olympic 10 km.
Personal bests
Below is a listing of the top times that Edith achieved in her career.
The time format is in hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds as is common for swimming times.
Note that there is a big difference between pool types. Indoor pools of 25 m give the advantage of being able to use the turning point to push off again using ones legs, thus giving a clear advantage over 50 m and of course open water venues. Open
sea
The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
gives the really bad side effect of large waves and the tides, which will sometimes push the swimmer back to where they came from, this can be clearly seen in the differences in times between the Channel crossing and the almost double in length Maraton Acuatica Rio Coronda which she performed in two hours less.
See also
*
World Open Water Championships - Multiple medalists
References
*
Zwemkroniek profile(Dutch Swim Chronicle)
Edith's Career
De Goudse Zwem en Poloclub Donk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dijk, Edith van
1973 births
Living people
Dutch female freestyle swimmers
Dutch female long-distance swimmers
Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands
Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
English Channel swimmers
People from Vlist
People from Wognum
World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming
Sportspeople from South Holland
21st-century Dutch women