The Women's 10 km Open Water event at the 2000 World Open Water Swimming Championships was held on November 2, 2000 in Honolulu.
Edith van Dijk from Netherlands led the 10K event from start to finish in today's FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii and defeated Melissa Pasquali from Italy by almost one minute. Peggy Büchse from Germany earned the bronze medal when her teammate Angela Maurer was disqualified for swimming on the wrong side of one of the channel markers.
Van Dijk was only trying to stretch her large lead during the race. "It was my strategy to go out fast," she said. "I just went for it." Dark clouds threatened to shorten or cancel the event and the conditions were even more challenging for the athletes. "It was a very tough race under these conditions, the second leg was very windy and the waves were rough," said the 27-year-old from Wognum, Netherlands.
Van Dijk was so far ahead that Melissa Pasquali never saw her and until she finished the race, and she no idea that anyone was ahead of her. "This race was very good for me, I am very tired now as it was a hard swim," Pasquali said. "It was a surprise to see Edith already there at the time of my finish," said the 28-year-old from Florence, Italy.
Bronze medalist Peggy Büchse reported that she saw the pack of lead swimmers go off course. "I am sure that there were several swimmers in that pack that should have been disqualified," she said. Only later did she learn that her teammate Maurer was one of three swimmers disqualified. "I swam my way, I was careful," said Büchse, who won the 5K on Tuesday. "When I saw the others go off course, I took my time and swam a better way."
Results
Key: DNS - Did not start, DNF - Did not finish, DQ = Disqualified