Robin van Aggele (born 30 July 1984 in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

) is an Olympic and national-record-holding

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 ...

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 ...

van Aggele's entry
from "Who's who" section of Zwemkroniek.com; retrieved 2011-01-20. and the most all-round Dutch swimmer since Marcel Wouda. He was part of the Dutch relay team that set a short-course European Record in the 4×100 m Free Relay (3:09.18) at the 2008 Short Course Worlds, along with Robert Lijesen, Bas van Velthoven and

Mitja Zastrow Mitja Kolia Zastrow (born 7 March 1977) is a Dutch swimmer and an Olympic medalist. Originally from Germany, Zastrow was born and raised in Wuppertal, near Düsseldorf. He became a naturalized Dutch citizen in July 2003, after a ...

in 3:09.18. They finished second in this event, behind the team from the United States who set the

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 ...

Swimming career

Robin van Aggele made his international debut at the European SC Championships 2004 in

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. At the World LC Championships 2005 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

he finished 14th in the 200 m individual medley and 11th in the 400 m individual medley. Later that year he finished 4th in the 100 m individual medley at the European SC Championships 2005 just 0.01 s behind Vytautas Janušaitis. In 2006 van Aggele qualified for the European LC Championships 2006 but didn't start because he had trained to hard and was too tired to compete. In

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

he won his first international medal with the Dutch relay team in 4×50 m freestyle finishing 3rd. At the World LC Championships 2007 he reached a 10th place in the 50 m breaststroke as best result. At the national championships in June he nominated himself for the 200 m individual medley in

Beijing 2008 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 Nat ...

. At the end of the year he confirmed his nomination and qualified for the games at Dutch Open Swim Cup. One week later he won a bronze medal with the 4×50 m medley team at the European SC Championships 2007 in

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

Spring 2008

In 2008 his first big tournament of the year was in his home country, the European LC Championships 2008 which was held in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Joris Keizer Joris Gerhard Keizer (born 26 January 1979, in Hengelo) is a retired butterfly swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. There he was elim ...

bringing it to 52.20 and finishing 4th in the final. At the last day of the tournament he finished 4th again this time in the 4×100 medley relay together with Nick Driebergen, Thijs van Valkengoed and

swimming a national record in 3:37.00. A few weeks later he won a silver medal at the World SC Championships 2008 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

with the 4×100 m freestyle team. He also reached 3 individual finals in the 50 and 100 m breaststroke and the 100 m individual medley.

2008 Summer Olympics

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 ...

were a big disappointment for van Aggele; he was eliminated in the heats of the 100 m butterfly, 200 m breaststroke and the 200 m individual medley. One month after the Games he announced to join Swimclub AZ&PC and started training under the guidance of Fedor Hes, who helped him already in his Beijing preparations.Robin van Aggele kiest voor AZ&PC Amersfoort
(trans: Robin van Aggele joins AZ&PC Amersfoort) by Jos van Kuijeren, Zwembroniek.com. Published 2008-09-25, retrieved 2011-01-20.

Personal bests

References

External links