Sharon van Rouwendaal

Junior career

Van Rouwendaal won four medals in middle- and long-distance freestyle events at the 2008 European Junior Championships in Belgrade, including a gold medal in the 1500 meter in a Dutch senior record (long course). A year later, she won a gold medal at the 2009 European Junior Championships in Prague in the 400 meter freestyle.

Senior career

Van Rouwendaal made her senior debut at the 2008 European Short Course Championships in Rijeka. Two years later, at the 2010 European Short Course Championships in Eindhoven, she made her international breakthrough by winning two silver medals, in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke. She finished in fifth place at the 2010 world short course championships in Dubai in the 200 meter backstroke a few weeks later.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai she won the bronze medal in the 200 m backstroke behind Missy Franklin and Belinda Hocking.

2012 Olympics

The 2012 Olympics in London were Van Rouwendaal's first Olympics. She competed individually in the 100 m backstroke and 200 m backstroke but due to a shoulder injury she did not make the finals. In the 200 meter backstroke event she finished 11th in the semifinals. In the 4×100 m medley relay she did swim the final, finishing 6th with the Dutch team. Van Rouwendaal (swimming the backstroke lead-off leg) and her teammates Moniek Nijhuis (breaststroke), Inge Dekker (butterfly), and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (freestyle) broke the Dutch record in this event.

Her shoulder injury caused her to miss the 2013 World Aquatics Championships.

2014 European Championships

At the 2014 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin, Van Rouwendaal won the gold medal in the 10 km open water, upsetting reigning Olympic champion Eva Risztov of Hungary by 1.1 seconds. This was her first gold medal in a major international championship. With her teammates Marcel Schouten and Ferry Weertman she won another gold medal in the 5 km team time trial. She also won the silver medal in the 5 km, and another silver in the 400 meter freestyle in the pool behind Britain's Jazmin Carlin. She finished 5th in the 800 m freestyle final and missed the final of the 1500 m freestyle by finishing 9th in the heats. She also competed in the 200 m butterfly but did not qualify for the semifinals.

2014 World Championships (short course)

Later in the year she won her first world title as a member of the 4×200 m freestyle relay at the short course world championships in Doha, Qatar. The team (also consisting of Inge Dekker, Femke Heemskerk, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo) broke China's four year old world record by more than 3 seconds with Van Rouwendaal splitting 1:52.73. She also won individual medals in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle.

2015 World Championships

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia, Van Rouwendaal again competed both in the open water and pool events. In the open water events she won two silver medals. In the individual 10 km she finished 2.4 seconds behind Aurelie Muller of France for second place. By finishing in the top 10, she qualified for the 10 km marathon event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In the 5 km team time trial she and her teammates Marcel Schouten and Ferry Weertman finished in tied second place. She also finished 4th in the individual 5 km. In the pool, Van Rouwendaal won the silver medal in the 400 meter freestyle behind defending champion and world record holder Katie Ledecky, who had dominated this event since 2013. In this race she broke the Dutch record with a time of 4:03.02. In the heats of the 800 m freestyle, she also broke her own national record. She broke her record again in the final but finished in 8th place. In the 1500 m freestyle she finished 6th.