Two -time Olympic Champion Sharon van Rouwendaal from Gemert ends her career as an open water swimmer. The 31-year-old swimmer announced this in the RTL Tonight talk show.
The swimmer is triple world champion in the open water and is considered the best athlete ever in this discipline. Van Rouwendaal already announced a temporary stop in February. The Olympic champion decided after ‘a lot of weighing’ not to participate in the world championships in Singapore this year.
Fulfilment
On Friday she announces her final farewell in the RTL Talkshow. In February she already said that she wanted to focus on something else that gives her a lot of satisfaction. She wanted to give something back for the sport.
“Through swimming clinics all over the world I share my experience and inspire the next generation of swimmers. This feels like a valuable and natural step in my career,” the Open Water swimmer reported at the time.
Gold medal
Sharon van Rouwendaal has won several Olympic medals during open water swimming. During the Games in Paris and Rio she won a gold medal, in Tokyo she conquered silver. Last year she also became world champion in the ten kilometers of open water swimming. Van Rouwendaal was also nominated as a athlete of the year.