Monday, November 24, 2008

World Open Water Swimmer of the Year - Maarten van der Weijden

Swimming World Magazine awarded its World Male Open Water Swimmer of the Year to Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist and 25K world champion Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands.

With arguably the greatest comeback in Olympic history - from leukemia to gold - Maarten is the well-deserving - and inspirational - 2008 honoree.

The Swimming World Magazine article can be read here.

For the last two months after Beijing, Maarten has been very busy with his charity work and commercial activities often scheduling 2-3 different appointments or speeches per day. Maarten continues to leverage his new well-deserved fame for the benefit of those around him.

Information on Maarten and the other nominees for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year is posted here. Details on the female nominees for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year are posted here. Voting can be done to the left.

Upper photo from Beijing by Pei Qingsheng and lower photo from 2008 World Championships in Seville by Javier Blazquez.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

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