Kira Marije Toussaint (born 22 May 1994) is a Dutch competitive swimmer who specialises in backstroke. She is the former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder in the

short course In swimming, the term short course (abbreviated SC) is used to identify a pool that is in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool. "Short course" is the second type of pool configuration current ...

50 metre backstroke and the Dutch record holder in the long course 50 metre backstroke and 100 metre backstroke, and the short course 50 metre, 100 metre, and 200 metre backstroke. She also holds the European record in the long course and short course 50 metre backstroke. At the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup, Toussaint placed second overall for a competitor of any gender in terms of total points scored and earned 11 gold medals.

Career

2012 European Short Course Championships

In the semifinals of the 2012 European Short Course Championships in Chartres, France, she broke the Dutch record in the 100 meter backstroke (

) with a time of 57.16 s. She finished 4th in the final.

2016 Summer Olympics

Toussaint qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the 100 meter backstroke. Her time of 1:00.25 exactly matched the Olympic Qualifying Time. She finished 18th in the heats and did not advance to the semifinals.

2018–2020

In December 2019, Toussaint was found innocent and that no anti-doping rule violation had occurred following an investigation by

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

of one of her doping test sample results from 2 November 2018.Race, Retta (12 January 2020)
"FINA Officially Releases Case Conclusion On Cleared Swimmer Kira Toussaint"
'' SwimSwam''. Retrieved 20 January 2022. FINA had earlier dropped its accusations against Toussaint in March 2019.D'Addona, Dan (12 March 2019)
"Kira Toussaint Has FINA Doping Case Against Her Dropped"
''

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 ...

''. Retrieved 20 January 2022.Race, Retta (12 March 2019)
"FINA Withdraws Doping Case Against Kira Toussaint"
'' SwimSwam''. Retrieved 20 January 2022.

International Swimming League

In 2019 she was member of the 2019 International Swimming League representing Team Iron. She finished second in both the 50 and the 100 backstroke in London. In 2020 International Swimming League she represented

London Roar London Roar is a professional swimming club based in London and one of the first clubs of the International Swimming League (ISL) to be formed. It was formed in March 2019, with an international roster of swimmers including Adam Peaty who was among ...

2021 Swimming World Cup

Toussaint competed in the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup, where she earned a total of 11 medals, all of which were gold medals.Takata, Daniel (1 November 2021)
"The Swimmers With The Most Medals At The 2021 FINA World Cup"
'' SwimSwam''. Retrieved 1 November 2021. Her performances across all four stops of the World Cup circuit were dominant enough for her to place second overall in terms of total points scored by a competitor, male or female, for all four stops, a total of 227.4 points, and she earned $103,500 of prize money.Dornan, Ben (31 October 2021)
"McKeon, Sates, Toussaint, Shields Earn Over $100K From FINA 2021 World Cup"
'' SwimSwam''. Retrieved 1 November 2021.

ranked the accomplishment of Toussaint winning a gold medal in every backstroke event she raced in the month-long World Cup competition as their number six moment from the competition."Swimming World Cup: Top 10 Moments"
''

''. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.

Personal life

Toussaint is the daughter of

Jolanda de Rover Jolanda de Rover (born 10 October 1963) is a female former backstroke swimmer from the Netherlands. Swimming career Jolanda de Rover competed at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics and won a gold and a bronze medal in backstroke in 1984. In ...

, the Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meter backstroke at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

in Los Angeles.

Personal bests

Awards and honours

, Top 10 Moments: 2021 Swimming World Cup (#6)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toussaint, Kira 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Amstelveen Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States Dutch female backstroke swimmers Dutch female freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Tennessee Volunteers women's swimmers Universiade medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Championships (multi-sport event) silver medalists Universiade gold medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade World record holders in swimming Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) 21st-century Dutch women Florida Gulf Coast Eagles women's swimmers