Moniek Nijhuis (born 20 March 1988) is a Dutch swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. After she had been a professional swimmer, under the guidance of

Martin Truijens Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

, for several years she took a break from professional swimming after she missed out on the Dutch team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. She wanted to concentrate more on her studies and train less. She still swims at De Dolfijn swimming club in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Swimming career

After she won the bronze medal in the 50 m breaststroke at the European Junior Swimming Championships 2003 in

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. Nijhuis took part in the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2003 The European SC (Short Course) Swimming Championships 2003 were held in the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown, Fingal between 11 and 14 December. Medal table Men's events Final 50 m freestyle Final 100 m freestyle Final 200 m fre ...

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where she won a bronze medal in the 4×50 m medley alongside

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 ...

Chantal Groot Chantal Groot (born 19 October 1982) is a butterfly and freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who has represented her country in many international championships since 1999. The best distance of Chantal Groot is the 50 m butterfly in which ...

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 European Junior Swimming Championships 2004 in Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

she won two gold medals in the 50 m, breaking the national record of Madelon Baans, and 100 m breaststroke. In December at the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2004 The 8th European Short Course Swimming Championships was an international swimming meet organized by LEN, and held in Vienna, Austria, December 9–12, 2004. The meet featured teams from Europe, swimming in 38 short course events. It was held in ...

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she won a gold medal in the 4×50 m medley together with Schreuder,

Dekker Dekker is a Dutch occupational surname equivalent to English Thatcher. Notable people with the surname include: *Aesop Dekker (born 1970), American rock drummer *Albert Dekker (1905–1968), American actor and politician * An Dekker (1931–2012 ...

and Veldhuis breaking the world record.

2005/2006

In 2005 Nijhuis qualified for the 2005 World Aquatics Championships 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 ...

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. She ended 13th in the 50 m breaststroke, the only distance she swam. During the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2005 The European Short Course Championships 2005 were held in Trieste, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterrane ...

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she once again broke the world record in the 4×50 m medley, with the same team as the year before. Individually she ended 7th in the 50 m breaststroke. Nijhuis then travelled to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

for the

2006 European Aquatics Championships The 2006 European Swimming Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 26 July – 6 August 2006. Disciplines include swimming, diving, synchronised swimming (synchro) and open water swimming. European Water Polo Championships for 2006 ...

. There she ended 6th in the 50 m breaststroke and 25th in the 100 m. With the 4 × 100 m medley team she ended 5th alongside

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 ...

and

. At the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 The European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 were held in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, from Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 December. The venue of the event was the aquatic center of Mäkelänrinteen uintikeskus, which last hosted a major eve ...

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she finished 4th in the 50 m breaststroke and 11th in the 100 m breaststroke.

2007/2008

After she failed to qualify for the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Nijhuis bettered the national record in the 50 m and 100 m breaststroke at the Long Course and the 100 m breaststroke at the short course. The

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2007 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, ...

were a big disappointment when she didn't reached any final. Nijhuis competed at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven in her home country. She failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics when she performed disappointingly in the 100 m breaststroke. In the 50 m breaststroke she ended 6th in the final after she swam a national record in the semifinal. A few weeks after this championships Nijhuis announced that she would make a step back in her career focusing more on her study and put less hours in her swimming career.

2008/2009 season

Nijhuis broke the national record in the 50 m and 100 m breaststroke (SC) in Aachen at an early season meet. At the Swim Cup Eindhoven 2008 she lowered the national record in the 50 m breaststroke (LC). The week afterwards she took part in the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008 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 ...

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 her first individual medal, bronze, in the 50 m breaststroke and also reached a 6th place in the 100 m breaststroke, in both events she lowered her own national record. In the 4×50 m medley she won a gold medal alongside

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

equalling the world record that was set by Australia. 2012 Olympics She competed in the 100 m breaststroke and the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Personal bests

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nijhuis, Moniek 1988 births Living people People from Losser Dutch female breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Overijssel