Mark Andreas Cornelis Versfeld (born June 13, 1976) is a Canadian former 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 ...

and

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

specialist. 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 ...

, he finished in 26th position in the 100 m backstroke. He won the same event and the 200 m backstroke two years earlier, at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

. At the 1998 Aquatic World Championships he won a silver in the 100-metre backstroke, and bronze in the 200-metre backstroke, breaking a Commonwealth record in the process. He was named Canadian Male Aquatic Athlete of the Year in 1998.

Biography

Two years after his birth, his family moved to

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...

where he started swimming in a club at age 8. In 1981 his family relocated to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, and three years later to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. After the departure of his Calgary coach Deryk Snelling, Versfeld moved to Vancouver, where he trained under Tom Johnson with the University of British Columbia. After mixed studies in the sciences, psychology and political science, he majored in Economics at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. In 2002 he retired from active swimming and in 2004 moved to Perth, Western Australia, where he took up surfing and swim coaching. He was part of the winning team in the

Rottnest Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

21-kilometre open-water relay swim in 2006, along with Australian Olympians

Bill Kirby William Ashley Kirby (born 12 September 1975) is an Australian swimmer who was competitive on an international level in the nineties and early 2000s. He specialized in freestyle and butterfly and won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics ...

Todd Pearson Todd Robert Pearson (born 25 November 1977) is an Australian swimming champion, who was born in Geraldton, Western Australia. He started swimming on the advice of a doctor treating his asthma. Pearson was vice captain of Hale School in 1994 wh ...

and

Duncan Armstrong Duncan John D'Arcy Armstrong (born 7 April 1968) is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Armstrong is best remembered for winning a gold and silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Ear ...

Family

His mother, Hella Rentema, is a former Olympic swimmer from 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 ...

. He has a sister, Kim, and a brother Niels, who is also a competitive swimmer. His father Kees (Cornelis) won a Silver Medal in the 320+ age group relay at the FINA World Masters Swim Championships held in Montreal in 2014.

References

1976 births Living people Canadian people of Dutch descent Canadian male backstroke swimmers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Olympic swimmers for Canada Swimmers from Edmonton Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics UBC Thunderbirds swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in swimming Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games {{Canada-swimming-bio-stub

Biography

Family

See also

References