From leukaemia to Olympic gold: the incredible story of Dutch swimmer Maarten van der Weijden

Maarten van der Weijden is a living legend in the Netherlands. The former long-distance swimmer overcame cancer and went on to achieve impressive sporting feats. Read on and relive Maarten van der Weijden's incredible story.

A promising swimmer in his youth, Van der Weijden first made a name for himself in 1998, when he picked up a gold medal at the Dutch championships in the 1500 metres. In the following years, he would add several medals to his record.

In 2000, he also participated in the World Open Water Championships in Hawaii, where he took ninth place in the 10 km.

However, sports faded into the background when Van der Weijden suffered health problems in 2001.

The diagnosis for the swimmer was a hard one: leukaemia.

Van der Weijden received chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant and fought for his health, life and career as an athlete.

After four years, Van der Weijden received great news when he was declared cured.

Before that, the Alkmaar native had started swimming again and had crowned himself Dutch champion in the 800-metre freestyle.

Van der Weijden also started to dedicate himself fully to the fight against cancer. In 2004, for instance, he swam across Lake IJssel in record time, raising a lot of money for KWF Dutch Cancer Society.

He also continued to develop himself in other fields and successfully completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Utrecht University that same year.

After that, on the advice of Dutch swimming icon Pieter van den Hoogenband, a change of scenery followed for Van der Weijden, who started training at the National Swimming Institute Eindhoven.

After improving his own Dutch record in the 5 km, Van der Weijden's next goal was the European Open Water Championships in Budapest in 2006. The Dutchman rose to the challenge and picked up a silver medal in the 10 km open water race.

Two years later, he excelled at the World Open Water Championships in Seville, Spain, where he took gold in the 25 km open water race and bronze in the 5 km.

However, the dream of every athlete and therefore also of Van der Weijden are the Olympics. Thanks to a fourth place in the 10 km at the World Open Water Championships in Seville, he qualified for Beijing, which hosted the Games in 2008.

Van der Weijden was determined and had only one goal in mind in Beijing: to win a gold medal. He achieved that goal with a time of 1:51.51.6 and became one of the Netherlands' Olympic heroes.

Van der Weijden's achievement earned him admiration everywhere and, as a reward for his gold medal, he was allowed to carry the Dutch flag during the closing ceremony of the Games.

To put the icing on the cake, he was also named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 2008.

In his acceptance speech, Van der Weijden dropped surprising news and said goodbye to swimming. "Now that I have been able to show what is possible after cancer, it has come full circle," he told.

After that, Van der Weijden wanted to inspire people and released an autobiography titled 'Beter' ('Better'), in which he talks about his fight against leukaemia and his road to Olympic gold.

In 2018, he added another impressive feat to his record by improving the 24-hour swimming world record to 102.8 kilometres.

Van der Weijden's appetite was not yet satisfied, however, and in 2019 he attempted a true feat by swimming the Elfstedentocht, a route of almost 200 kilometres long. He took just under 75 hours and managed to raise a whopping 6.1 million euros for cancer research. In 2023, he also successfully completed an Elfstedentriathlon, again to raise money for the fight against cancer.

Van der Weijden was hit by the biggest setback anyone can face, but he did not give up and fought back, for himself and for other people dealing with cancer. All this makes him an exceptional example of perseverance.