- Mitja Zastrow
-
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for the 
NetherlandsOlympic Games Silver 2004 Athens[1] 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Competitor for 
GermanyBronze 2000 Athens 4×100 m freestyle Competitor for the NetherlandsBronze 2008 Manchester 4×100 m freestyle European Championships (LC) Competitor for the NetherlandsBronze 2008 Eindhoven 4×100 m freestyle European Championships (SC) Gold 2005 Triest 4×50 m freestyle Mitja Kolia Zastrow (born March 7, 1977) is a Dutch swimmer and an Olympic medalist. Originally from Germany, Zastrow was born and raised in Wuppertal, near Düsseldorf. He became a naturalized Dutch citizen in July 2003, after a conflict with the German Swimming Association. He currently trains at PSV Eindhoven in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with his coach, Torsten Petsch.
Zastrow's swimming career has been filled with a series of unfortunate injuries. In 2001, despite being the 100 meter freestyle champion in Germany, a hand injury kept him from attending the FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
In 2003, at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Zastrow participated in his first World Championship as a Dutch citizen. However, due to a back injury, he was unable to swim in most of the events that he had qualified for.
Zastrow qualified fifth out of one hundred Dutch swimmers to participate in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Along with Pieter van den Hoogenband, Johan Kenkhuis, and Klaas-Erik Zwering, he was a member of the Dutch 4×100 meter freestyle relay team, which won silver by clocking in at 3:14.36.
Zastrow's specialty is actually the backstroke. He has been the Dutch record holder in the 50 meter backstroke since 2003.
Zastrow has a Chinese ideograph tattooed on his left shoulder. The character is "猴" and means "monkey."
See also
- Dutch records in swimming
- German records in swimming
External links
- (Dutch) Zwemkroniek online profile
References
- ^ "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". CNN. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2004/schedules/117BySport.html. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
European Short Course Champions in Men's 4×50 m Freestyle Relay 1996: Germany (Conrad, Tröger, Nolte, Smollich) • 1998: Netherlands (Veens, Kenkhuis, Aartsen, Van den Hoogenband) • 1999: Sweden (Andersson, Frölander, Nystrand, Carlsson) • 2000: Sweden (Dahl, Nystrand, Frölander, Andersson) • 2001: Ukraine (Sylantyev, Volynets, Lisogor, Shyrshov) • 2002: Netherlands (Kenkhuis, Damen, Holst, Veens) • 2003: Netherlands (Veens, Kenkhuis, Damen, Van den Hoogenband) • 2004: France (Maitre, Bernard, Barnier, Bousquet) • 2005: Netherlands (Veens, Zastrow, Damen, Kenkhuis) • 2006: Sweden (Nystrand, Stymne, Piehl, Tilly) • 2007: Sweden (Stymne, Piehl, Nylin, Nystrand) • 2008: France (Bernard, Gilot, Leveaux, Bousquet) • 2009: France (Leveaux, Stravius, Maitre, Bousquet) • 2010: Italy (Dotto, Spadaro, Magnini, Orsi)
2004 Dutch Olympic Swimming Team Men's competition Pieter van den Hoogenband • Joris Keizer • Johan Kenkhuis • Thijs van Valkengoed • Mark Veens • Mitja Zastrow • Klaas-Erik Zwering
Women's competition Madelon Baans • Inge de Bruijn • Inge Dekker • Chantal Groot • Annabel Kosten • Celina Lemmen • Stefanie Luiken • Haike van Stralen • Marleen Veldhuis
2008 Dutch Olympic Swimming Team Men's competition Robin van Aggele • Nick Driebergen • Pieter van den Hoogenband • Robert Lijesen • Thijs van Valkengoed • Bas van Velthoven • Maarten van der Weijden • Mitja Zastrow
Women's competition Categories:- 1977 births
- Living people
- Dutch swimmers
- Male freestyle swimmers
- Male backstroke swimmers
- Olympic swimmers of the Netherlands
- Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands
- Dutch people of German descent
- Olympic medalists in swimming
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