van ROUWENDAAL Sharon

General
PADDLING POOL
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 she returned to her home in France from her German training base and used a paddling pool to continue training. "You couldn't swim in the ocean, river, I tried to swim everywhere, but it wasn't possible. I tried to keep myself fit and I was also thinking, 'I just want to go back and train'. I thought I cannot go anywhere; the police are everywhere. You feel really good when you swim on resistance [in the paddling pool]. I did some other workouts at home, but I filmed myself in that pool and got a lot of reactions. I recommend a bigger pool because I was touching the ground with my finger." (tokyo2020.org, 03 Mar 2021)

CHANGE OF COACH
In August 2020 she made the switch from French coach Philippe Lucas to German coach Bernd Berkhahn. "In the last year I started to doubt too often and too strongly about the collaboration with Philippe. I have become an Olympic champion under his leadership and I am very grateful to him, but I am ready for change and something new. Last season I did a number of training internships with the group of Bernd Berkhahn, who is also the German national team coach, and I really liked it. I have now taken the plunge and I am very happy to be able to work in Bernd's team. I can now prepare without worry and with full conviction for a successful Games in Tokyo next year." (swimswam.com, 07 Aug 2020)

TRAINING IN FRANCE
At age seven she and her parents moved to France, where she started swimming at a competitive level. In 2008 she decided to compete for the Netherlands. After spending time training in the Netherlands, she decided to return to France in 2013 to train with coach Philippe Lucas. "When I was younger I didn't have a lot of friends, I didn't see a lot of people, I was always concerned about my practice and my body. Even when I was 18 or 20 years old, I would barely go out because I always wanted to be 100% committed to my training, diet and body to have the best times. Many people didn't believe in me. They said I would never get a medal in international competitions. So, I started to do things about myself. That was the time when I moved to France and started training with my coach. I saw this as my last resort to improve and get the results I always dreamed." (medium.com, 02 Jun 2019; nocnsf.nl, 21 Jan 2010; parool.nl, 16 Apr 2009)

RIO WORRY
Her shoulder injury sustained in October 2015 lead her to doubt her ability to perform well at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I lost all my power and couldn't sprint, couldn't go fast and in the pool it was the same. I was a little depressed I think because Rio was fast approaching, in less than four weeks. If I was asked to sign for a bronze medal without racing I would have said yes. During the race I was already very tired after six kilometres but I somehow managed to touch the pad first. I then became an Olympic champion. I showed everyone I could do it even though I had a tough year. I always said I was going be an Olympic champion since I was age four." (fina.org, 04 Dec 2016)

BIOGRAPHY
Her biography entitled 'BRUUT' was released in January 2020, written by Natasja Weber, a journalist for the Eindhovens Dagblad. (Instagram profile, 18 Jan 2020)