The Road to Beijing
• In March 2001, 6'-7" (202 cm) Maarten was diagnosed with leukemia. After losing half his body weight and a stem cell transplant, Maarten was lucky to recover.
• After a long road of recovery, Maarten qualified for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim by finishing fourth in the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships and became the world champion in the 25K race a few days later.
• Maarten is currently preparing for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim to be held on August 20th in Beijing.

Racing Strategy
• "I know I can swim faster in the last 100 meters, so I am patient and save something."

The Recovery from Leukemia
• "I learned from my cancer. I learned to approach challenges step-by-step. I can see that having leukemia is helping me now: It's making me stronger because everything I go through in life from now on will be easier than what I went through to beat the cancer. The pain and fatigue that you feel in the [open water swimming] race, I went through that for a whole year to beat the cancer, so, I know I can do it [in the race]."

The 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships
• Maarten established himself as one of the world’s most versatile open water swimmers when he won a bronze in the 5K, a fourth in the 10K and a gold in the 25K at the 2008 World Championships. "I thought that if I win a medal in one of my three races I would be happy. I was the only male competitor to swim in all three events, and I thought it might put me at a disadvantage, but now I'm world champion. My dream of the last four years was to be world champion, and now, to do my second dream and go to the Olympics is amazing."

Training Regimen
• Swims 9,000 – 14,000 meters per day with a maximum of 120,000 meters per week (74.5 miles!) with 30 minutes of core body exercises every morning. Technically speaking, “I do lots of slow work, where my lactate is not reaching 2. I also do max holding sets and lactate production sets, but that is not a big part of my total volume.
• Sleeps in an altitude tent and takes naps for as long as he can in order to be in the altitude tent as long as possible

www.maartenvanderweijden.com for more information