| Place Of Birth | Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada |
| Residence | Calgary, Canada |
| Coach | Jan Bidrman |
| Recent Results | Canadian Commonwealth Games Trials (Nov-2005)
1st in the 100m breaststroke (1:10.66)
4th in the 200m breaststroke (2:33.08)
1st in the 50m breaststroke (32.79) |
Commonwealth
Games History | Manchester 2002
did not compete
Kuala Lumpur 1998
Bronze in the 100m breaststroke (1:09.11)
Bronze in the 200m breaststroke (2:29.58)
Silver in the 4x100m medley relay (4:09.52) |
Olympic
Games History | Athens 2004
11th in the 100m breaststroke (1:09.45)
13th in the 200m breaststroke (2:30.39)
11th in the 4x100m medley relay (4:09.84) |
| Other | In January 1998 at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, nineteen year old Lauren burst onto the International scene with a medal in the 100m breaststroke, setting a Canadian record in the process (1:08.66) that still stands today. She admits that she was quite naive then and didn't really plan to perform so well so quickly.
It took close her three years to get back to the point where she was challenging her best times from four years earlier. She had a strong competitive summer in 2003 and that momentum continued at the recent Canadian Open in Quebec City. Five and a half years after her first and last Canadian record in Perth, Lauren broke the Canadian record in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:25.47.
Fully expecting to make the Olympic team in the year 2000, Lauren suddenly found it harder to hit the best times that had come with comparative ease only eighteen months before. She was crushed when she failed to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, but when asked if she considered retirement, her answer came quickly. ?I never seriously considered quitting. I knew I could get back to a high level, and even then I knew I would regret it if I stopped at that point in my career?.
Her parents Joanne and Kees were members of the national rowing team of the Netherlands.
She is currently studying public relations and graphic design. |