(2014 ARCHIVED) Mark de Jonge - Canada
MARK DE JONGE (Canada) - Nominee for 'Sportsman of the Year'
Twitter: https://twitter.com/markadejonge, website: www.markdejonge.com
- Born: 1984, sports: canoe sprint (K1, K4), represents: Canada
- 2014: World Champion K1M 200m, world record holder, World Cups: gold (Racice) and silver (Szeged) K1M 200m
- 2013: silver K1M 200m World Championships, World Cups: gold K1M 200m (Poznan)
Fastest man on the planet in a boat over 200m, 30 year old engineer Mark beat the previous International Canoe Federation record set in 1992 with a time of 33.945 seconds during his semi-final run at the 2014 Moscow World Championships.
In the staggering final at Eton Dorney, Mark also won bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games narrowly behind silver medalist Saúl Craviotto (ESP) and golden Ed McKeever (GBR). His medal was truly testament to his mental strength to train for a third consecutive Olympic cycle as he was unlucky enough not to make the Canadian squad for the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. He has his eyes firmly set on Rio 2016.
Mark's best Pan American Games results include K4 1000m silver in 2007 and K1 500m bronze in 2003.
Activities and achievements off the water:
- He trains and mentors high-performance athletes working towards the 2015 Pan American Games, also to be held in Canada down the road in Toronto
- Mark is on the Board of Directors at the Maskwa Aquatic Club in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he currently resides even though originally from Calgary, Alberta
- Part time engineer-in-training
This is a 2014 archived nominee. For the 2015 nominees click on the button below.
