Maarten van der Weijden

Maarten van der Weijden is a Dutch former long-distance and marathon swimmer, born in Alkmaar on 31 March 1981. After a promising youth career he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001, survived it and returned to competition in 2003. He won the 25 kilometre title at the 2008 World Championships in Seville and then the Olympic gold medal in the 10 kilometre open water marathon at Beijing in 2008, narrowly ahead of David Davies of Great Britain. He announced his retirement from professional swimming while being named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 2008. He later turned to fundraising for cancer research, setting a 24 hour swimming distance record of 102.8 kilometres in 2018 and in 2019 completing the 200 kilometre Elfstedentocht route in 74 hours and 4 minutes, a swim that brought in more than 6.1 million euros.