Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk (; born 21 September 1987) is a former Dutch competitive swimmerFemke Heemskerk
Zwemkroniek Online. Retrieved on 19 March 2008. who mainly specializes in freestyle, but also has a strong backstroke and medley. As part of the Dutch team, she holds 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 ...

world records 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 ...

in the 4 × 50 m freestyle relay, 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, and 4×200 m freestyle relay, all set in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

in 2014. Individually she is owner of six

national records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

, four in

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

, 100 m and 200 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, and 200 m individual medley, and two in short course, 200 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley. She currently represents Energy Standard in the

International Swimming League The International Swimming League (ISL) is an annual professional Swimming (sport), swimming league, established in 2019. It features a team-based competition format with fast-paced race sessions. In 2019, the regular season started in October an ...

Swimming career

Early career

Femke Heemskerk made her international debut at the World LC Championships 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 ...

as a relay-swimmer. She only swum in the heats of the 4×100 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle events. She competed in the European LC Championships 2006 and the

European Short Course Swimming Championships The European Short Course Swimming Championships (variously referred to informally as the "Short Course Europeans" or "European 25m Championships") are a swimming meet, organized by LEN. The meet features swimmers from Europe, competing in events ...

. But individually she did not advance past the heats in both events. At the World LC Championships 2007 she won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m freestyle together with

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens ...

Ranomi Kromowidjojo Ranomi Kromowidjojo (; born 20 August 1990) is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch- Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m free ...

and

Marleen Veldhuis Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis (born 29 June 1979) is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events (one individual event and three relay events). Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medals ...

. At the

2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships, which was the 15th edition of the continental swimming event, were held between 13–16 December 2007 in Debrecen, Hungary. The championships were swum in the Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, i ...

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 ...

she surprisingly finished 6th in her first international final, the 100 m freestyle. She also finished 10th in the 200 m freestyle.

Spring 2008

In 2008 she swam at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships on the world record breaking 4×100 m freestyle team, which also won bronze in the World Championships the year before. With the same team she ended fourth in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Individually she did not reach the semi-finals. The next month she competed 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 ...

at the World SC Championships 2008 where she again broke two relay records in the 4×200 m freestyle with the same team as in Eindhoven. In the 4×100 m freestyle

Hinkelien Schreuder Hinkelien Schreuder (born 13 February 1984) is a former butterfly, freestyle and backstroke swimmer from The Netherlands, who also competed in the medley events. Schreuder won the Olympic gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay at the 2008 Olym ...

replaced

who suffered from an elbow injury. She won her first individual medal, a silver medal, in the 200 m freestyle at the last day of the tournament. During the National Championships in June 2008, Heemskerk lowered three national records on the long course, 200 m freestyle, 200 m individual medley and 100 m backstroke.

2008 Summer Olympics

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 ...

she won a gold medal with the 4×100 m freestyle relay. She did so alongside

and

in a time of 3:33.76, just 0.14 outside their own world record. The day after she competed individually in the 200 m individual medley where she finished 28th during the heats. Heemskerk was the lead-off swimmer in both 4×200 m freestyle and 4×100 m medley relays, both of which did not qualify for the finals.

Fall 2008

After the Olympics Heemskerk returned to competition at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships where she qualified for the

2009 World Aquatics Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...

in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle. The week afterwards she participated in the

2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships The European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008 took place in Rijeka, Croatia from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 December 2008. Medal table Medal summary Legend: * WR = World record * ER = European record * CR = Championships record Men's e ...

in Rijeka,

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. There she won a silver medal in the 200 m freestyle behind

Federica Pellegrini Federica Pellegrini (; born 5 August 1988) is an Italian retired swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she holds the women's 200 meters freestyle world record (long course, 50 m), and won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing ...

. She also finished fifth in the 100 m medley. At the end of 2008 she became Amsterdam Sportswoman of the year

2011

In 2011 Heemskerk won a gold medal at the

2011 World Aquatics Championships The 14th FINA World Championships () were held on 16–31 July 2011 in Shanghai, China at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The 2011 World Championships featured five aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, open water, and synch ...

as part of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay alongside

and

in a time of 3:33.96. She anchored the team with a split time of 52.46, the fastest split in the final by 0.53.

2012

London Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Heemskerk and her teammates – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Inge Dekker, Marleen Veldhuis, and Hinkelien Schreuder – won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, an event in which they were the defending champions. The gold medal went to Australia.

2014

Heemskerk won her first individual world title at the 2014 world short course championships in

, Qatar, in the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

, ahead of

Sarah Sjöström Sarah Fredrika Sjöström (; born 17 August 1993) is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is the current world record holder in the 50 metre freestyle (long course), the 100 metre freestyle ...

and Kromowidjojo. She won three more gold medals in the freestyle relays. In the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, she swam a split time of 50.58 s, the only split under 51 seconds in the field.

2015

After finishing outside the medals in her individual events (the 100 and 200 meter freestyle) at the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Championships (russian: Чемпионат мира по водным видам спорта 2015), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. T ...

in Kazan, Heemskerk decided to move to France to train with coach Philippe Lucas.

2016 Olympics

Heemskerk qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, her third Olympics, in the 100 and 200 meter freestyle and the 4 × 100 and 4 × 200 meter freestyle relays. With the 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay she finished 4th in the final, after having medalled in the past two Olympics. In the 200 meter freestyle, she finished 16th in the semifinals.

2017

3-5 March 2017 Heemskerk competed in Swim Cup The Hague where she won the 200 m freestyle with a time of 1:56.59, came second in the 100 m freestyle (time 54.19), and came third in the 50 m freestyle with a time of 25.29. Heemskerk competed in KZNB Challenger in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, on 18 and 19 March 2017. She finished first in 100 m freestyle with a time of 54.27. Heemskerk took part in the Swim Cup Eindhoven, the Dutch Championships and also qualification competitions for the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships ( hu, 2017-es úszó-világbajnokság) were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

in Budapest on 14-17 July 2017. In the Swim Cup Eindhoven, Heemskerk won the 200 m freestyle event with a time of 1:56.62, securing a place for Budapest. Silver and bronze medals went to Isabel Gose and Robin Neumann who were at least 2.5 seconds slower than Heemskerk. In the 100 m freestyle event Heemskerk reached the finals and finished second with a time of 53.77, securing qualification for the Budapest championships.

International Swimming League

In the Autumn of 2019 she was member of the inaugural

swimming for the

Energy Standard International Swim Club In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...

, who won the team title in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December.

Personal bests

References

External links

Official website (archived)
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heemskerk, Femke 1987 births Living people People from Kaag en Braassem World record holders in swimming Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Dutch female backstroke swimmers Dutch female freestyle swimmers Dutch female medley swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming European Championships (multi-sport event) silver medalists Sportspeople from South Holland 21st-century Dutch women