Mark de Jonge (born 15 February 1984) is a Canadian male sprint canoeist, primarily specializing the 200 m kayak event. De Jonge won a bronze medal in the K-1 200 m at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He is the two time reigning world champion in same event having also won a silver medal at the

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation (the other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). The World Cham ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. He is also the current Pan American champion in the 200 having won gold in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

, where he also won an additional bronze, and a silver and bronze at previous editions of the Pan Am Games. He was named the

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...

Athlete of the Year in 2015 for Canada.

Career

Born in Calgary in 1984, de Jonge moved to Halifax in 1997 where he started kayaking. His parents enrolled him in the popular local sport at the Maskwa Aquatics Club as a way of getting to know other children in the area. Despite being a competitive kayaker he missed out on the 2004 and 2008 editions of the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. He did win a silver medal at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

in the men's K-4 1,000 metres event, alongside

Angus Mortimer Angus Mortimer (born September 4, 1985) is a Canadian former sprint kayaker. He represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, finishing ninth in the K-4 1000 m event. He won a gold medal in the 2007 Pan American Games K-1 1000m. ...

, Jeremy Bordeleau and Chris Pellini. In the

he won bronze in the K-1 200 metres event. When the quick sprint 200 m event was added to the Olympics de Jonge saw his opportunities flourish, as the event suited his skill set aptly. Yet he missed out on most of the qualifying events after he dropped an 80lb weight on his finger training in 2012. Despite the injury he still managed to win the national trials and qualify for the

. There he won a bronze in the inaugural event. After he said "Obviously, I did want gold. But I was never thinking about the result. I’m happy with the bronze. I’m really happy that I had an awesome race out there, three really good races at the Olympics. I’m proud that, when the time came, I was really ready to go." De Jonge built off the Olympic success winning his first world cup medal the following year, he then won a silver in the 200 at the

2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was held 29 August–1 September 2013 in Duisburg, Germany. The championships were awarded originally to Szeged, Hungary, but Szeged was moved to 2011 in the wake of Vichy, France's withdrawal in 2010 ...

. At the

2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was held from 6–10 August 2014 in Moscow, Russia. They were chosen at an ICF board of directors meeting in Budapest on 10 April 2010. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are broken up i ...

he won his first world championships title while also setting the world record in the semi-finals on his way to the title. With the win in

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he said that "For years I've sort of dreamed of this moment." de Jonge repeated as world champion at the 2015 world championships and in December was named the 2015 Air Canada athlete of the year through an online voting process. In May 2021, de Jonge was named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team.

Personal

De Jonge graduated from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

in Halifax with a degree in civil engineering in 2009. He worked full-time for three years with Stantec Consulting as an engineer-in-training before he took a leave of absence to focus on kayaking before the 2012 Olympics. In 2018 he was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history.

References

Canadian Olympic Committee

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonge, Mark De 1984 births Living people Canadian male canoeists Canoeists at the 2007 Pan American Games Canoeists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Canada Sportspeople from Calgary Sportspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia Dalhousie University alumni Canadian people of Dutch descent Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in canoeing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in canoeing Canoeists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games