View source for Edith van Dijk

{{short description|Dutch swimmer}}
{{MedalTableTop |image=Edith van Dijk (2008-08-25).jpg |image_size=220px |medals=
{{MedalSport | Women's [[Open water swimming|Open Water]] }}
{{MedalCountry | the {{NED}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Aquatics Championships|World Championships]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[2003 World Aquatics Championships|2003 Barcelona]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalGold | [[2005 World Aquatics Championships|2005 Montreal]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalGold | [[2005 World Aquatics Championships|2005 Montreal]] | 10 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[1998 World Aquatics Championships|1998 Perth]] | 5 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[2001 World Aquatics Championships|2001 Fukuoka]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalBronze | [[1998 World Aquatics Championships|1998 Perth]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalBronze | [[2001 World Aquatics Championships|2001 Fukuoka]] | 10 km }}
{{MedalBronze | [[2003 World Aquatics Championships|2003 Barcelona]] | 10 km }}
{{MedalBronze | [[2005 World Aquatics Championships|2005 Montreal]] | 5 km }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[2000 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2000 Honolulu]] | 10 km }}
{{MedalGold | [[2000 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2000 Honolulu]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalGold | [[2002 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2002 Sharm el-Sheikh]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[2002 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2002 Sharm el-Sheikh]] | 5 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[2004 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2004 Dubai]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2008 Seville]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[LEN European Aquatics Championships|European Championships]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[2002 European Aquatics Championships|2002 Potsdam]] | 10 km }}
{{MedalGold | [[2002 European Aquatics Championships|2002 Potsdam]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[1995 European Aquatics Championships|1995 Vienna]] | 25 km }}
{{MedalSilver | [[2000 European Aquatics Championships|2000 Helsinki]] | 25 km }}
}}

'''Edith van Dijk''' (born 6 April 1973 in [[Haastrecht]]) is a Dutch [[swimming (sport)|swimmer]] and 6-fold world champion. She is [[Netherlands|Holland]]'s most successful [[open water swimming|open water swimmer]] and [[Long-distance swimming|long distance swimmer]], whose career started in 1990 taking part in the Dutch IJsselmeermarathon.

==Biography==
She starts out at [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]]'s swimming club DONK, the swimming portion of the soccer team of the same name. At DONK teammates gave her the nickname Piaf, due to her having the same first name as [[Edith Piaf]]. She was invested as a [[Knight]] of the [[Order of Orange Nassau]] and was awarded a Doctorate in Economy from [[Erasmus University]] in [[Rotterdam]].

In the years following the 1990 IJsselmeermarathon she finds her place between the world's top. Her definitive breakthrough is during the [[1995 European Aquatics Championships|European championships]] of 1995 in [[Vienna]], where she wins the silver medal on the longest distance in open water swimming, that of 25 kilometer. The next high is reached in less than three years in [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], where she wins two medals at the [[FINA World Championships - Long Course|world championships]]: silver on the 5 kilometer and bronze on the 25 kilometer.

Another two years later, when first separate open water world championships were held off the coast of [[Hawaii]], she hit on the 10 and 25 kilometers. From then on, Van Dijk – living in [[Wognum]] and competing for the club SG Hoorn/Zeemacht, always stood on the podium at every major international tournament. In addition to this she also decorated herself with high classifications in the World Cup circuit, including ultra-long races, of more than seventy kilometers in [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]]. In 2001, 2002, and 2003 she is nominated for the honor title of ''Dutch Female Sporter of the Year''.

[[Erica Terpstra]], herself a top swimmer, performed the wedding ceremony, wedding Edith with [[Hans van Goor]] on 20 March 2003 in [[Oudewater]], [[Netherlands]].

On 13 August 2003 she swam across the [[English Channel]] between [[Calais]] and [[Dover]]. In a time of 9 hours and 8 minutes (official time) she reached the French Coast. She had aimed to improve the official Dutch and European Record by her husband and coach Hans van Goor, who performed the same crossing in 1995 in a time of 8 hours and 2 minutes.

After her Channel-adventure Van Dijk attempted to qualify for the [[2004 Summer Olympics]] in [[Athens]]. In spite of her training efforts she did not manage to qualify; she was not fast enough for even the longest distance of pool swimming, the 800 meters [[Freestyle swimming|freestyle]].

In 2005, she decided to end her long and impressive career. She closed it in style: at the [[FINA World Championships - Long Course|world championships]] of 2005 in [[Montreal]] she won the bronze in the 5 kilometers, and gold on both the 10 and 25 kilometers, thereby annoying her everlasting rival from [[Germany]] with whom she fought a number of duels, [[Britta Kamrau]]. The last race of Holland's most praised marathon swimmer was in December 2005 at the Dutch Short Course Championships (25 meter pool) in [[Amsterdam]].

At the end of 2005, the leading American magazine [[Swimming World magazine|Swimming World]] names her long-distance swimmer of the year.

On 22 December 2005 she was elected [[Dutch Sportsman of the year|Sport female of the year 2005]]. The jury composed of Dutch top athletes chose her instead of judoka [[Edith Bosch]] (World and European Champion in 2005) and rower [[Marit van Eupen]] (World champion in 2005).

Edith also played a role in the 2006 Argentinian film [[Agua (2006 film)|Agua]] where she plays herself in a documentary about swimmers, doing an interview about her life as a swimmer.

In August 2007, she announced her comeback, in order to try to win an Olympic medal at the [[2008 Summer Olympics]]. In [[Beijing]], open water swimming featured on the Olympic program for the first time. Despite winning a silver medal in the 25&nbsp;km at the [[2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships|2008 world championships]] three months before the Olympics, she finished only [[Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon 10 kilometre|14th]] in the Olympic 10&nbsp;km.

== Personal bests ==
Below is a listing of the top times that Edith achieved in her career.
The time format is in hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds as is common for swimming times.
Note that there is a big difference between pool types. Indoor pools of 25 m give the advantage of being able to use the turning point to push off again using ones legs, thus giving a clear advantage over 50 m and of course open water venues. Open [[sea]] gives the really bad side effect of large waves and the tides, which will sometimes push the swimmer back to where they came from, this can be clearly seen in the differences in times between the Channel crossing and the almost double in length Maraton Acuatica Rio Coronda which she performed in two hours less.
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;"
! style="width: 5em"|TIME
! align="left" style="width: 18em"|DISTANCE
! align="left" style="width: 18em"|POOLSIZE
! DATE
! align="left" style="width: 18em"|PLACE
! align="left" style="width: 18em"|EVENT
|-
| align="right" | '''2:07.16'''
| align="center" | 200 m
| align="center" | 25 m
| align="center" | 2000
| {{flagicon|NED}} [[Nieuwegein]]
| align="center" | Finals Dutch Championships (short track)
|-
| align="right" | '''4:19.19'''
| align="center" | 400 m
| align="center" | 25 m
| align="center" | 2004
| {{flagicon|GER}} [[Berlin]]
| align="center" | FINA: World Cup No 5 – 2003/2004 Series
|-
| align="right" | '''8:44.77'''
| align="center" | 800 m
| align="center" | 25 m
| align="center" | 2004
| {{flagicon|GER}} [[Berlin]]
| align="center" | FINA: World Cup No 5 – 2003/2004 Series
|-
| align="right" | '''16:54.09'''
| align="center" | 1500 m
| align="center" | 25 m
| align="center" | 2005
| {{flagicon|NED}} [[Amsterdam]]
| align="center" | Dutch Short Course Championships
|-
| align="right" | '''4:20.84'''
| align="center" | 400 m
| align="center" | 50 m
| align="center" | 2003
| {{flagicon|NED}} [[Dordrecht]]
| align="center" | Finals Dutch Championships
|-
| align="right" | '''55:46.6'''
| align="center" | 5000 m
| align="center" | open water
| align="center" | 2005
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Montreal]]
| align="center" | World Aquatics Championships
|-
| align="right" | '''1:56:00.5'''
| align="center" | 10&nbsp;km
| align="center" | open water
| align="center" | 2005
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Montreal]]
| align="center" | World Aquatics Championships
|-
| align="right" | '''5:25:06.6'''
| align="center" | 25&nbsp;km
| align="center" | open water
| align="center" | 2005
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Montreal]]
| align="center" | World Aquatics Championships
|-
| align="right" | '''9:08:00'''
| align="center" | 34&nbsp;km
| align="center" | open water
| align="center" | 2003
| {{flagicon|ENG}} [[Dover]] to {{flagicon|FRA}} [[Calais]]
| align="center" | [[English Channel]]
|-
| align="right" | '''7:45:00'''
| align="center" | 88&nbsp;km
| align="center" | down river <!-- must be a serious current -->
| align="center" | 2001
| {{flagicon|ARG}} [[Argentina]]
| align="center" | Maraton Acuatica Rio Coronda
|}

==See also==
* [[FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships#Multiple medalists|World Open Water Championships - Multiple medalists]]

==References==
* {{Swimrankings|id=4042552}}
* [http://www.zwemkroniek.com/whoswho.php?action=1&id=13 Zwemkroniek profile] (Dutch Swim Chronicle)
* [http://www.noww.nl/index.php?showtopic=1605 Edith's Career] {{in lang|nl}}
* [http://www.gzcdonk.nl/ De Goudse Zwem en Poloclub Donk] {{in lang|nl}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Dutch Sportsman of the year|Dutch Sportsman of the Year]]
| before = [[Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel]]
| after = [[Ireen Wüst]]
| years = 2005
}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Swimming World Swimmers of the Year|World Open Water Swimmer of the Year]]
| before = None
| after = [[Larisa Ilchenko]]
| years = 2005
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Footer European Champions 25km Open Water Women}}
{{Footer Netherlands Swimming 2008 Summer Olympics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dijk, Edith van}}
[[Category:1973 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Dutch female freestyle swimmers]]
[[Category:Dutch female long-distance swimmers]]
[[Category:Olympic swimmers for the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:English Channel swimmers]]
[[Category:People from Vlist]]
[[Category:People from Wognum]]
[[Category:World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming]]
[[Category:Swimmers from South Holland]]
[[Category:21st-century Dutch sportswomen]]