Pieter van den Hoogenband

Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband (; born 14 March 1978) is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder.

Early life Born in Maastricht, Limburg, he is the first child of Cees-Rein van den Hoogenband and Astrid Verver, a former Dutch 800 m freestyle silver medalist at the European Junior Championships. He has a younger sister named Veronique and a younger brother named Robert. His father, a former judoka, was a team doctor with the professional football team of the same club.

Swimming career Early career In 1993, Van den Hoogenband achieved his first success, performing well on the European Youth Olympic Days. Before the Atlanta Games, Astrid van den Hoogenband, who was coaching the Dutch team, became frustrated with the swimmers representing the Netherlands, feeling they had much potential but would not be able to live up to it due to lack of adequate support. She pleaded with Cees to take action, as he carried much weight through his professional connections. After Astrid threatened to remove Pieter from the sport, Cees created a small foundation and signed up 20 initial sponsors who each paid $2,500 to fund a team trainer. The Dutch swimming team eventually signed contracts with Philips, Nike, and Speedo. Enough funds were raised to open a swim school in Eindhoven, Van den Hoogenband's place of residence. The team eventually grew to ten.

Van den Hoogenband is the only swimmer in history who has managed to win both the 100–200 metre freestyle double at the Olympics and also repeat as 100 freestyle champion at the Olympics. His three Olympic gold medals are the only three won by a Dutch male pool swimmer.

1996 Olympics Van den Hoogenband's international breakthrough came at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Only 18 years old, he exceeded the expectations of many by finishing 4th in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle. He won the 50 m freestyle B final, and finished 5th in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, 7th in the 4×200 m freestyle relay, and 10th in the 4×100 m medley relay.

Later career

1998 World championships

At the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia, Van den Hoogenband won bronze medal in the 200 metre freestyle and silver in the 4×200 m freestyle relay.

2000 Olympics

After winning 6 gold medals at the 1999 European Championships, Van den Hoogenband was one of the favourites at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but his adversaries were formidable. In the 200 m freestyle he faced the world record holder, Australian youngster Ian Thorpe, favourite of the home crowd in Sydney. In the semi-finals, Van den Hoogenband set a new world record, but Thorpe countered with a time only 0.02 s slower. In an exciting final, Van den Hoogenband equalled his time from the semi-finals to win the gold medal. In the 100 m freestyle, Van den Hoogenband again set a world record in the semi-finals and won his second gold medal, defeating the 1992 and 1996 champion, Alexander Popov. His 100 m world record stood until 21 March 2008 and was broken by France's Alain Bernard (47.60). Van den Hoogenband won two more medals, both bronze, in the 50 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle relay, in which he was the final swimmer.

Post-swimming career Van den Hoogenband continues to swim recreationally and he remains active in the sports industry. He has served as a commentator for many swimming events, including the 2012 Summer Olympics. The swimming arena in the sporting centre of Eindhoven was named the "Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion".

Van den Hoogenband was the Chef de mission for the 2024 Netherlands Olympic team. In July 2024 he said he was surprised by the fuss surrounding beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde despite the fact van de Velde pleaded guilty to three counts of child rape in 2016.

Personal life Van den Hoogenband was married to his longtime girlfriend Minouche Smit who is also a former swimmer. They have two children. In September 2012 the couple announced their divorce. Then Van den Hoogenband dated Ranomi Kromowidjojo, also a multiple Olympic gold medalist. Their relationship ended in 2014. On 16 September 2016 Van den Hoogenband married Marie-José Crooijmans.

Despite a fierce rivalry, Van den Hoogenband is a good friend of Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe.