Simon Vroemen
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Simon Frans Vroemen | ||||||||||||
| Born |
11 May 1969 Delft, Netherlands | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb; 10 st 8 lb) | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 18 October 2007. | |||||||||||||
Simon Frans Vroemen (born 11 May 1969 in Delft, Zuid-Holland) is a Dutch runner, specialising in the steeplechase.
Biography
Vroemen has a degree in molecular sciences from the Wageningen University. He wrote his dissertation on the stress physiology of grasshoppers. He has since worked as an engineer for Shell and currently resides at Gieten.
Originally a 1500 metres runner, he changed his focus in 1994 to the steeplechase, in which he has been internationally successful. On 26 August 2005 in Brussels he broke his own European record, setting it at 8:04.95, which remained until 2009. In July 2007, a year after his "final" decision to quit the sport, Vroemen returned on the track at the Dutch National Championships. He started off as a pace runner, but went on to win the Dutch title. On 11 June 2008, at the age of 39, he won a race in Cottbus in 8:12.50, setting the third-best time of the year in the world and qualifying him for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
After this race, Vroemen requested a doping test and was tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid metandienone. He contested the outcome based on scientific evidence that his (legal) anti-asthma medication caused the test to report false positives. More than 1.5 years after the "positive" test and the missed opportunity to run at the Olympics, the Sports Court released Vroemen of the doping charges, based on scientific evidence that the allowed asthma medication triggered the test. During these 1.5 years, the anti-doping authorities also tried to accuse Vroemen of using an illegal infusion in 2006. Vroemen was also declared innocent in this case and all charges were dropped. Vroemen will likely claim financial damages. He is back into road racing and won the masters nationals in cross-country in 2010. Vroemen has entered the 2011 World Double Decathlon Championships.
Achievements
- 2000: 12th - Olympic Games in Sydney
- 2002: 2nd - European Championships in München
- 2003: 7th - World Championships in Paris
- 2004: 6th - Olympic Games in Athens
- 2005: 5th - World Championships in Helsinki
External links
- Personal site
- Simon Vroemen profile at IAAF
- Simon Vroemen at Sports Reference
| Records | ||
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Preceded by Joseph Mahmoud |
Men's Steeple European Record Holder 2002-07-19 – 2009-07-03 |
Succeeded by Bouabdellah Tahri |