Van der Weijden Wins First Olympic Men’s 10k Swimming Event
August 21, 2008 by Sandy Mitchell
Filed under Sports Rumors
It was a Dutchman, Maarten van der Weijden, that finished first for the Gold Medal on Thursday in the first ever 10k swimming marathon, despite Great Britain’s David Davies leading for most of the race. Davies and Bronze Medalist, Thomas Lurz of Germany both drifted to the outside at the finish, allowing van der Weijden to win the race.
Van der Weijden’s victory is even more surprising since he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001 and struggled with it through 2003, before being regaining his health and returning to swimming.
