Cornelia ("Conny") van Bentum (born August 12, 1965 in Barneveld, Gelderland) is a former butterfly and freestyle swimmer from The Netherlands, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, starting in 1980. At each of those swimming tournaments she won a medal with the 4×100 m freestyle relay team: one bronze (1980), and two silvers (1984 and 1988).
During her career, Van Bentum won a total number of eleven medals at the European LC Championships (two silver, nine bronze), and five medals (bronze) at the World Aquatics Championships. In 1983, she was named Dutch Sportswoman of The Year. In the 1980s she trained for two years in the United States, at the University of California, Berkeley, alongside famous swimmers like Matt Biondi and Mary T. Meagher. After her career, she returned at the highest level in sports, by becoming the team doctor of the Dutch Women's Field Hockey Team.
Famous quotes containing the word van:
“The first day that we landed upon that fatal shore
The planters they came round us full twenty score or more,
They rank’d us up like horses, and sold us out of hand
Then yok’d us unto ploughs, my boys, to plow Van
Dieman’s Land.”
—Unknown. Van Dieman’s Land (l. 9–12)