Liesette Bruinsma

Liesette Bruinsma (born 9 September 2000) is a Dutch Paralympic swimmer.^[1] She competes in S11 classification events for athletes with visual impairments. She is the 2016 double Paralympic champion within her classification. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's 400 metre freestyle S11, and Women's 100 metre freestyle S11, winning two silver medals.^[2]

Liesette Bruinsma

Personal information
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(2000-09-09) 9 September 2000 (age 24) Wommels
Sport
Disability class	S11,
Club	HZ&PC Heerenveen
Coached by	Casper Hut (club) Mark Faber (national)
Medal record Women's para swimming Representing  Netherlands Paralympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m medley S11 2016 Rio de Janeiro 400 m freestyle S11 2024 Paris 400 m freestyle S11 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m breaststroke S11 2020 Tokyo 400 m freestyle S11 2020 Tokyo 50 m freestyle S11 2024 Paris 100 m freestyle S11 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 m freestyle S11 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m freestyle S11 World Championships 2023 Manchester 100 m freestyle S11 2023 Manchester 400 m freestyle S11 2022 Madeira 50 m freestyle S11 2022 Madeira 100 m freestyle S11 2023 Manchester 50 m freestyle S11 2022 Madeira 400 m freestyle S11 2023 Manchester 200 m medley SM11 European Championships 2016 Funchal 400 m freestyle S11 2016 Funchal 100 m breaststroke SB11 2016 Funchal 200 m find. medley SM11 2018 Dublin 100 m freestyle S11 2018 Dublin 400 m freestyle S11 2018 Dublin 100 m breaststroke S11 2018 Dublin 200 m medley S11 2016 Funchal 50 m freestyle S11 2018 Dublin 50 m freestyle S11 2016 Funchal 100 m freestyle S11

Swimming career

Bruinsma first competed for the Netherlands at Glasgow in 2014.^[3] Her first major international competition was the 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships in Funchal, where she competed in six events, and took a medal in five of them. Three of her Funchal medal's were gold: 400 m freestyle (S11), 100 m breaststroke (SB11) and the 200 m find. medley (SM11).

In the same year, Bruinsma made her Paralympic Games debut, winning five medals including two golds in the 200 metres individual medley and the 400 metres freestyle.^[4]

The Netherlands did not send a team to the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico city, but Bruinsma dominated at the 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships, winning four gold medals and breaking two world records, taking her tally of European Championships titles to seven.

During the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Bruinsma raised a protest after the women's 50 free final, claiming to have been hindered by the Chinese Li Guizhi.^[5][6] The Paralympics organizing committee accepted the protest and decided to cancel the competition and hold a re-swim. This decision led to anger and protest in Chinese social media. The competition was repeated on 29 August 2021, with the same two Chinese swimmers winning the gold and silver again and Bruinsma finishing fourth.^[7][8]