Carine Verbauwen (Ghent, 30 December 1961)[1] is a Belgian swimmer. She had the best styles for the 100 and 200 meter backstroke.

Her swimming career began at the age of ten. She swam in MZV Eeklo.

In 1975, she was the first Belgium winner at the European Junior Championships with a silver medal for 800m freestyle. The next year, she also won two silver medals.[2]

As a fourteen-year-old, she was present at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[3] In the Women's 4x100 meters medley, her class was not in the heats with a time of 4:30.78. She swam her 100m backstroke and did wonders in 1:07.41 yielding a Belgian record. She also performed in the 400 meter freestyle, 800 meter freestyle and the 4 x 100 meter freestyle.

At the 1980 Summer Olympics[4] in Moscow, she won fifth place in the final of the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:03.82 and a sixth place in the final of the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:16.66. In the Women's 4x100 meters medley, she managed a team of Yolande van der Straeten, Brigitte Bosmans and her sister Pascale Verbauwen but did not get beyond in the heats with a time of 4:26.33. She put her 100m butterfly set in 1:04.38. She also performed in the 100 meter freestyle.

Her time of 1:03.82 in the 100m backstroke set a Belgian record that would stand until Silke Van Hoof surpassed it in 2008 in Antwerp with an improved time of 1:02.86.

In 1975, 1978 and 1979, she was elected Belgian Sportswoman of the Year. She was thus the first woman who won the accolade in 1975. In 2000, she was in another selection of the Belgian Professional Association of Sports Journalists in sixth place as Athlete of the Century. In 2009, she was one of the top athletes in the program Eternal Fame.

Carine Verbauwen is the daughter of multiple Belgian champion swimmers Herman Verbauwen (1944) and Francine Delaunoy (Belgian champion 100m butterfly), and sister of Pascale Verbauwen, also a swimmer. Carine Verbauwen is currently the head coach at the Royal Ghent Swimming Club, training swimmers such as Rami Anis.[5] She is mother of two children.

In 2016, Carine Verbauwen served as a coach to the Refugee Olympic Team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[6]

100m backstroke

She improved on several occasions the Belgian record time

200m backstroke

Awards

Belgian female Athlete of the Year (1975, 1978 & 1979)[7]

References

  1. ^ "Olympic.org-- Athlete summary". 2016-06-15.
  2. ^ "European Championships".
  3. ^ "Topsportschool werkt niet in het zwemmen, talent zit bij clubs". Sporza (in Dutch). 2019-07-28.
  4. ^ "Sports Reference Olympic Sports". Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  5. ^ "Swimmer who fled Syria headed to Rio". The Calgary Herald. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Olympic.org-- Refugee Olympic Team list" (PDF).
  7. ^ Article in Dutch


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