Marlou van Rhijn
Van Rhijn running at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2013
Personal information
NicknameBlade Babe[1][2][3]
Born (1991-10-22) 22 October 1991 (age 32)
Height1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in) in prosthetics
Weight57 kg (126 lb) (2007)
Websitewww.marlouvanrhijn.nl
Sport
Country Netherlands
Sport
Events
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • 100 m (T43): 12.79 s (2016, WR)[4]
  • 200 m (T43): 25.64 s (2015, WR)[4]
  • 400 m (T43): 60.15 s (2013, WR)[4]
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Netherlands
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2012 London 200 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m (T44)
Silver medal – second place 2012 London 100 m (T44)
IPC World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Lyon 100 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2013 Lyon 200 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2015 Doha 100 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2015 Doha 200 m (T44)
IPC European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Stadskanaal 100 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2012 Stadskanaal 200 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2014 Swansea 100 m (T44)
Gold medal – first place 2014 Swansea 200 m (T44)
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Swansea 400 m (T44)
Updated on 18 September 2016.

Marlou van Rhijn (Dutch pronunciation: [mɑrˈlu vɑn rɛin]; born 22 October 1991) is a retired professional Dutch former professional sprint runner.[5] Van Rhijn, who was born without lower legs,[6] is the world record holder for T43 in the 100 and 200 metres events and ran with the aid of carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs. She competed in T44 (single below knee incapacity) events though she was classified in T43 (double below knee). She announced her retirement in June 2021.[7]

Personal

Marlou van Rhijn was born on 22 October 1991 in Monnickendam in the Netherlands.

She studied commercial economics at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Amsterdam.[6]

Swimming

Until 2009, Van Rhijn was a member of the national team for swimmers with a disability. Amongst others, she was swimming at a World and a European championship. She swam several Dutch national records. She competed in the S9 class and focused on the 50 and 100 meter freestyle.[8] She stopped swimming competitively in 2010 due to lack of motivation.[6]

Athletics

Van Rhijn switched sports in 2010, after being approached by Guido Bonsen, coach of the Dutch Parathletics Team. She did a trial, and was hooked.[6] Van Rhijn became a member of the Dutch Parathletics Team of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Atletiek Unie.[9] Despite qualifying as T43, she competes in the class T44 at the 100 and 200 meters. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in May 2012, while competing at the Stadio Olimpico.[10] She was invested as a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau after winning her Paralympic medals.[11]

She left the national paralympic team. She started training after the Paralympic Games in Ookmeer, Amsterdam with her new coach Parcy Marte, who also trains non-paralympic people.

In the build up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics she was supportive of Shardea Arias de la Cruz when she decided to create a Paralympic committee and team for the small island nation of Aruba.[12]

Achievements

Athletics

Time (s) Results Date Event Location
100 m (sport class T44)
13.02
(Paralympic Record) 		Gold 17 September 2016 2016 Summer Paralympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
13.22
(world record; personal best) 		heats 1 September 2012 2012 Summer Paralympics London, United Kingdom
13.27[13]
 Silver 2 September 2012 2012 Summer Paralympics London, United Kingdom
13.62[3] Gold 27 June 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships Stadskanaal, Netherlands
200 m (sport class T44)
26.17
(Paralympic Record) 		Gold 15 September 2016 2016 Summer Paralympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
26.18[14]
(world record; personal best) 		Gold 2 September 2012 2012 Summer Paralympics London, United Kingdom
26.97[15] series 5 September 2012 2012 Summer Paralympics London, United Kingdom

Swimming

Time (s) Results Date Event Location
50 m Breaststroke (sport class SB8)
51.80[16]
(personal best) 		n/a 8 March 2009 n/a Esbjerg, Denmark
50 m Freestyle (sport class S9)
34.34[16]
(personal best) 		n/a 10 May 2009 n/a Antwerp, Belgium
100 m Freestyle (sport class S9)
1:13.02[16]
(personal best) 		n/a 24 October 2009 n/a Reykjavík, Iceland
200 m Freestyle (sport class S9)
2:42.44[16]
(personal best) 		n/a 29 May 2009 n/a Berlin, Germany
400 m Freestyle (sport class S9)
5:32.36[16]
(personal best) 		n/a 21 October 2009 n/a Reykjavík, Iceland

References

  1. ^ "Zilver Van Rhijn,brons Hertog" NOS, 2 September 2012
  2. ^ "Blade Babe Marlou van Rhijn op weg naar de perfecte race" Archived 18 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine Metronieuws, 28 August 2012
  3. ^ a b "Marlou van Rhijn aka Blade Babe wins gold in 100m T44 and teammates take silver and bronze". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Marlou van Rhijn Archived 17 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Atletiek.nl. Retrieved on 18 September 2016.
  5. ^ "van Rhijn, Marlou". ipc.infostradasports.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Eva Rooijers. "Marlou van Rhijn: 'Ik houd heel erg van winnen'". Folia (in Dutch). Cruyff Institute. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  7. ^ "Paralympisch kampioene van Rhijn stopt met atletiek: 'Het hoeft niet meer'".
  8. ^ "Van Rhijn, Marlou". IPC. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  9. ^ "atletiekunie.nl" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
  10. ^ "Golden Gala 2012: Marlou Van Rhijn record mondiale paralimpico 100m" (in Italian). SportLive. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  11. ^ Marlou van Rhijn geridderd Archived 17 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch), Atletiek.nl, 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Tokyo 2020: The Paralympic dream that started at the supermarket". BBC News. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Wereldrecord voor Van Rhijn". nu.nl (in Dutch). 2 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  14. ^ "Van Rhijn pakt paralympisch goud in wereldrecord". nl.nl (in Dutch). 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  15. ^ "Van Rhijn noteert wereldrecord". nu.nl (in Dutch). 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Marlou van Rhijn – Personal records" (in Dutch). Xzweml.nl. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marlou van Rhijn.
Awards Preceded byThierry Schmitter Dutch Disabled Sportsperson of the Year 2012, 2013 Succeeded byBibian Mentel
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