Inge de Bruijn

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Family name hatnote Template:Infobox swimmer

Inge de Bruijn (Template:IPA; born 24 August 1973) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic champion and a former world record-holder in multiple swimming events.

Personal

De Bruijn was born in Barendrecht, Netherlands. Inge is the sister of Olympic water polo player Matthijs de Bruijn.

Swimming career

Template:BLP unreferenced section De Bruijn tried several sports before eventually specialising in swimming. De Bruijn debuted at the World Aquatics Championships in January 1991, winning a bronze medal with the 4×100 m relay team, with which she won the gold medal at the European LC Championships in August of that year.

The following year, de Bruijn made her Olympic debut at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and finished 8th in the 100 m and 4×100 m freestyle events. She did not compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1999, she won the 50 m freestyle at the European Championships. The following year, after having swum several 50 m freestyle world records, she competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She won the 50 and 100 m freestyle, and the 100 m butterfly, setting world records in all three events. She also won a silver medal with the 4×100 m freestyle relay team. Her nickname became "Invincible Inky".

She was named by Swimming World as the "Female World Swimmer of the Year" in both 2000 and 2001. She won titles in three events at the 2001 World Championships. At the 2003 World Championships, de Bruijn successfully defended her 50 m freestyle and butterfly titles. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens she defended her gold medal in the 50 m free, and took silver in the 100 m free, and two bronze: one in the 100 m butterfly and another in the 4×100 m relay. This made her the oldest individual champion in Olympic swimming history. This record was only surpassed by Anthony Ervin at the age of 36, he won the gold medal for the men's 50m freestyle at the Rio 2016 Olympics. De Bruijn's 2004 title retains its place as the oldest female Olympic champion in swimming history.

With an Olympic medal total of four gold, two silver and two bronze, she is the fourth most successful Dutch Olympian of all time. Moreover, her combined nine individual titles won at the Olympics (four) and World Aquatics Championships (five) were a record for female swimmers until Katie Ledecky won her 10th at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In March 2007, de Bruijn announced her retirement from competitive swimming.

International championships (50 m)

Meet	50 free	100 free	50 fly	100 fly	4×100 free	4×100 medley
EC 1991	Template:Bronze3			Template:Silver2	Template:Gold1	Template:Bronze3
WC 1991		10th		8th	Template:Bronze3	4th
OG 1992	8th			9th	5thTemplate:Ref label	8th
EC 1993	Template:Bronze3	12th		4th	7th
WC 1994				7th		6th
EC 1995	4th			4th	6th
OG 1996
EC 1997
WC 1998		8th		7th	5th	6th
EC 1999	Template:Gold1	Template:Silver2		Template:Gold1	4th	4th
EC 2000
OG 2000	Template:Gold1	Template:Gold1		Template:Gold1	Template:Silver2
WC 2001	Template:Gold1	Template:Gold1	Template:Gold1
EC 2002
WC 2003	Template:Gold1		Template:Gold1
EC 2004		6th
OG 2004	Template:Gold1	Template:Silver2		Template:Bronze3	Template:Bronze3	6th

Template:Note label de Bruijn swam only in the heats

Post-swimming career

De Bruijn resides in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and previously trained in Portland, Oregon.

She was the face for Dutch lingerie brand Sapph, along with kickboxer Remy Bonjasky, the face for the men's line of the brand.<ref>"Modellen dansen op het IJs" Template:Webarchive, 4 February 2011, Glamour Template:In lang</ref>

She appeared in a special episode of the Dutch naked dating reality television programme Adam Zkt. Eva VIP.

References

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External links

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