Swimmingworld magazine open water swimmers of the year 2014

Every November Swimming World Magazine announces the male and female open water swimmers of the year, and in 2014 that honor went to American Andrew Gemmell for the male open water swimmer of the year and Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands as the female open water swimmer of the year.

Both of them won their respective top international races this summer, with Gemmell taking the Pan Pacific gold medal in the 10K swim, which had been delayed by a week due to adverse conditions. Gemmell has been a part of the open water scene for many years, winning the 5K silver medal at the world championships in 2009, but 2014 is proving to be his biggest year yet.
As for Van Rouwendaal, this is her first major international open water medal after many years of excelling in the pool. She was a star backstroker and freestyler for Holland, winning a bronze medal in the 200 backstroke at the 2011 long course world championships. But this year she made a very successful transition to open water, winning the 10K event at the European championships and helping the Dutch win the team event as well. For good measure, she captured silver in the 5K and raced to a silver medal in the 400 freestyle. You can read more about these two fantastic swimmers in the November issue of Swimming World Magazine.

read more at: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/open-water-swimmers-year-texas-heat-big-paychecks-week/