Inge de Bruijn

Inge de Bruijn was born on August 24, 1973 in Barendrecht in the Netherlands. After trying several sports she finally decided to concentrate on swimming. This decision should pay off when she appeared on the international stage in 1991 for the first time. In Athens at the European Championships she won gold with the 4x100m freestyle relay, a silver medal over 200m fly and two bronze medals over 50m freestyle and as part of the 4x100m medley relay. At the World Championships in Perth she won bronze with the 4x100m freestyle relay.

In 1992 she competed at the Olympics in Barcelona but could not win a medal. The following years were hard years for de Bruijn. A bronze medal over 50m freestyle at the European Championships in 1993 was the only medal at the international level. She did not compete at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. After watching the Games she regretted this decision very much and decided to move to the USA to train under coach Paul Bergen at Portland.

The following years were a complete success. In 1999 she won the 50m free and fly and got second over 100m freestyle at the European Championships in Istanbul. In the same year she won her first World Championship title over 50m freestyle at the Short Course Championships in Hong Kong. Furthermore she won a silver medal with the 4x100m freestyle relay and a bronze medal over 50m fly.

2000 was her year. At the Olympic Games in Sydney she won three individual gold medals over 50m and 100m freestyle and 100m fly. She won all titles breaking the existing World Records. The new World Records over 50m free and 100m fly were not broken until 2008 respectively 2009 when the new high tech suits caused a flood of new records especially over the shorter distances.

A year later she continued her dominance at the World Championships in Fukuoka. She won three gold medals over 50m free and fly and 100m freestyle. Two years later in Barcelona she defended her titles over the two 50m events. After some motivation problems between the big competitions after the Olympics 2000 and a couple of changes of training groups and coaches she returned to Paul Bergen after the World Championships 2003 to train for the upcoming Olympics.

In Athens at her last Olympic Games in 2004 she defended her title over 50m freestyle from Sydney, won silver over 100m freestyle and two bronze medals over 100m butterfly and with the 4x100m freestyle relay.

After her career Inge de Bruijn worked for Dutch television commentating major national and international swimming competitions. She will be remembered as a difficult character but especially a fighter and very successful swimmer. De Bruijn was named World Swimmer of the Year in 2000 and 2001 and European Swimmer of the Year from 1999 to 2001.

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