Jopie Waalberg
Dutch swimmer (1920–1979)
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Johanna Maria Elisabeth "Jopie" Waalberg (13 April 1920 – 5 July 1979) was a Dutch breaststroke swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics and was the first woman to swim the 200 meter breaststroke under 3 minutes.[1][2]
Jopie Waalberg in 1940 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 13 April 1920 Amsterdam, the Netherlands | |||||||||||
| Died | 5 July 1979 (aged 59) Enkhuizen, the Netherlands | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||
| Club | ADZ | |||||||||||
Medal record
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In 1936, she finished fifth in the 200 metre breaststroke event, the single breaststroke event until the 1968 Olympics. At the 1938 European Aquatics Championships in London she won a bronze medal on the same distance.
On 11 May 1937, she broke Hideko Maehata's four-year-old breaststroke record by 0.2 seconds (3:00.2). On 27 June of that year, in Zaandijk, she improved on that record by more than 2 seconds to 2:58.0. She improved her own world record once more on 2 October to 2:56.9. She further held world records in the unconventional distances of 200 yard, 400 m and 500 m breaststroke.
