Pieter van den Hoogenband
Olympic 100 m and 200 m freestyle champion in front of a home crowd in 2000
Overview
Van den Hoogenband set a world record of 47.84 in the Sydney 100 m semifinal, then beat Ian Thorpe in the 200 m final in an electric home Games atmosphere for the Netherlands. He defended the 100 m title at Athens 2004. His duels with Thorpe and Gary Hall Jr defined sprint and middle distance freestyle of the era.
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