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SHANGHAI (AP) — While standout Brazilian sprinter Cesar Cielo waits for his status to be determined by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, one thing is certain for the women's signature events at the world swimming championships: the Dutch pose a serious threat.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who has overcome a recent serious bout of meningitis, is among the favorites next week for the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races and along with Frederike Heemskerk, Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis, the Flying Dutchwomen are undoubtedly the team to beat in the 400 freestyle relay.
The same four women have won the relay at the last two major international meets — the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 worlds in Rome — when they also set the current world record.
They're the latest in a long line of Dutch sprinting standouts, starting with the likes of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn — who won a combined 15 Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games.
"We're long and tall people — maybe that's good for sprinting freestyle," Veldhuis said.
The historic legacy also helps.
"As a little child I was sitting in front of the TV watching Pieter and Inge de Bruijn," Kromowidjojo said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Now they're retired, but a few years ago I was training with them, so it was really nice and awesome to swim with your idols."
The 20-year-old Kromowidjojo and Veldhuis, who is returning from a maternity leave, train together at the Pieter van den Hoogenband swim stadium in Eindhoven, and "VdH" still checks in on his former teammates from time to time.
Dutch head coach Jacco Verhaeren is the link between old and new generations, having coached van den Hoogenband for 15 years.
"In all club teams in the Netherlands the top event is 50 and 100 freestyle, so there's a lot of focus on it — maybe a little bit too much, to be honest," said Verhaeren, who would like to see his younger swimmers branch out into other events.
In such a small country, however, it's difficult to excel in every discipline.
"If we can choose, we choose 50 and 100 freestyle and the relays," Verhaeren said.
Kromowidjojo is the Dutch team's budding star. She swept golds in the 50 and 100 free at the short-course worlds in Dubai in December for her first major international individual titles.
However, Britta Steffen — the German who won the sprints in both Beijing and Rome — did not compete in Dubai, so it's difficult to pick favorites here.
"It's a very close race — Therese Alshammar, Marleen Veldhius, Britta Steffen, me — so I don't see myself as the favorite and I don't think there is one favorite," Kromowidjojo said.
Other top sprinters include Francesca Halsall of Britain, Jeanette Ottessen of Denmark, and Americans Natalie Coughlin and Jessica Hardy.
Kromowidjojo's father is from Suriname and his grandparents came from Indonesia, but Ranomi was born and raised in the Netherlands.
"She's a completely typical Dutch girl," Verhaeren said.
She pronounces her name "just how you write it," as she likes to say.
Kromowidjojo's victories in Dubai were all the more impressive considering that she was struck with meningitis midway through last year, forcing her out of the European championships in Budapest.
"It was really serious, I was really ill," Kromowidjojo said. "I didn't swim for seven weeks, but after I recovered really fast and two, three months later we had Europeans (short-course) and I had four gold medals and four weeks later we had worlds (short-course). It was amazing."
Meningitis is an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and at one point Kromowidjojo was wondering if she would ever swim again.
"Yes, everything is in your head. Maybe I cannot swim, maybe I cannot walk. You hear stories like people are deaf or cannot work anymore or nothing be the same as they were," she said.
Fortunately for Kromowidjojo, the illness left her with no disabilities. It did, perhaps, give her more motivation.
On her right wrist, Kromowidjojo has a tattoo featuring the Chinese character for water, the No. 1 and the letter K for her relay gold in Beijing. She'll be looking to add another tattoo in Shanghai — and lead her teammates to gold in the relay.
Cielo hopes to have a chance to win gold here, too. The world title holder in the men's 50 and 100 freestyle, Cielo is awaiting a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing after testing positive to a banned diuretic, furosemide.
Swimming's governing body FINA challenged a Brazilian federation decision to give Cielo and three teammates only a warning after testing positive in May. Cielo blamed his positive test on a contaminated batch of a food supplement he regularly used.
The hearing will begin Wednesday in Shanghai. A decision is expected by Friday, two days before the Sunday start of the eight-day pool swimming program.
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Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who has overcome a recent serious bout of meningitis, is among the favorites next week for the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races and along with Frederike Heemskerk, Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis, the Flying Dutchwomen are undoubtedly the team to beat in the 400 freestyle relay.
The same four women have won the relay at the last two major international meets — the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 worlds in Rome — when they also set the current world record.
They're the latest in a long line of Dutch sprinting standouts, starting with the likes of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn — who won a combined 15 Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games.
"We're long and tall people — maybe that's good for sprinting freestyle," Veldhuis said.
The historic legacy also helps.
"As a little child I was sitting in front of the TV watching Pieter and Inge de Bruijn," Kromowidjojo said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Now they're retired, but a few years ago I was training with them, so it was really nice and awesome to swim with your idols."
The 20-year-old Kromowidjojo and Veldhuis, who is returning from a maternity leave, train together at the Pieter van den Hoogenband swim stadium in Eindhoven, and "VdH" still checks in on his former teammates from time to time.
Dutch head coach Jacco Verhaeren is the link between old and new generations, having coached van den Hoogenband for 15 years.
"In all club teams in the Netherlands the top event is 50 and 100 freestyle, so there's a lot of focus on it — maybe a little bit too much, to be honest," said Verhaeren, who would like to see his younger swimmers branch out into other events.
In such a small country, however, it's difficult to excel in every discipline.
"If we can choose, we choose 50 and 100 freestyle and the relays," Verhaeren said.
Kromowidjojo is the Dutch team's budding star. She swept golds in the 50 and 100 free at the short-course worlds in Dubai in December for her first major international individual titles.
However, Britta Steffen — the German who won the sprints in both Beijing and Rome — did not compete in Dubai, so it's difficult to pick favorites here.
"It's a very close race — Therese Alshammar, Marleen Veldhius, Britta Steffen, me — so I don't see myself as the favorite and I don't think there is one favorite," Kromowidjojo said.
Other top sprinters include Francesca Halsall of Britain, Jeanette Ottessen of Denmark, and Americans Natalie Coughlin and Jessica Hardy.
Kromowidjojo's father is from Suriname and his grandparents came from Indonesia, but Ranomi was born and raised in the Netherlands.
"She's a completely typical Dutch girl," Verhaeren said.
She pronounces her name "just how you write it," as she likes to say.
Kromowidjojo's victories in Dubai were all the more impressive considering that she was struck with meningitis midway through last year, forcing her out of the European championships in Budapest.
"It was really serious, I was really ill," Kromowidjojo said. "I didn't swim for seven weeks, but after I recovered really fast and two, three months later we had Europeans (short-course) and I had four gold medals and four weeks later we had worlds (short-course). It was amazing."
Meningitis is an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and at one point Kromowidjojo was wondering if she would ever swim again.
"Yes, everything is in your head. Maybe I cannot swim, maybe I cannot walk. You hear stories like people are deaf or cannot work anymore or nothing be the same as they were," she said.
Fortunately for Kromowidjojo, the illness left her with no disabilities. It did, perhaps, give her more motivation.
On her right wrist, Kromowidjojo has a tattoo featuring the Chinese character for water, the No. 1 and the letter K for her relay gold in Beijing. She'll be looking to add another tattoo in Shanghai — and lead her teammates to gold in the relay.
Cielo hopes to have a chance to win gold here, too. The world title holder in the men's 50 and 100 freestyle, Cielo is awaiting a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing after testing positive to a banned diuretic, furosemide.
Swimming's governing body FINA challenged a Brazilian federation decision to give Cielo and three teammates only a warning after testing positive in May. Cielo blamed his positive test on a contaminated batch of a food supplement he regularly used.
The hearing will begin Wednesday in Shanghai. A decision is expected by Friday, two days before the Sunday start of the eight-day pool swimming program.
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