Olympian Pieter Timmers Follows Through On Planned Retirement

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 8

Olympic silver medalist Pieter Timmers made good on his previous decision to retire at the end of the 2020 racing season, officially hanging up his goggles as the conclusion of ISL match #8. He is opting out of a possible NY Breakers’ semifinal appearance, instead going home to his family.

In his post-meet interview, the 32-year-old Belgian said of his final day, “I wasn’t really emotional, but I really lived today like I want to remember it. The team celebrated me and were cheering so loud for me. It was really nice to go out with a blast.”

He reiterated that his original plan was to retire after the originally scheduled 2020 Olympic Games. However, with the postponement to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, he decided to bump up his retirement.

“We bought a house, we had our second child. For the sake of my family, the balance was a little bit off,” said Timmers of his desire to move on outside of the pool.

The freestyle ace who took runner-up to Aussie Kyle Chalmers in the 100m free at the 2016 Olympic Games leaves the sport having amassed 10 international championships medals.

Since Rio, Timmers hasn’t been quite up to the same caliber as he was in Rio, though. He missed out on the event’s final at the 2017 World Championships, settling for 16th while he suffered the same fate 2 years later at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.

In between, Timmers was hospitalized for meningitis, missing out on the 2018 European Championships.

More recently the Belgian captured gold in his signature event at the Indianapolis stop of the 2019 FINA Champions Series. He clocked a time of 48.36 to top the podium ahead of the likes of Russia’s Vlad Morozov and USA’s Townley Haas.

Through season 2 of the ISL as a NY Breaker, Timmers’ highest individual finish was represented by his 4th place result today in the men’s 100m free.

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Torchbearer
4 years ago

Full respect to any medalist in an Olympic 100m final….

Ragnar
4 years ago

fair winds and following seas champ

swimfan210_
4 years ago

Congratulations on an awesome career! Enjoy retirement!

DCSwim
4 years ago

I remember seeing the Belgian relay 4×100 in 2012 and thinking “Huh, wonder what will come from this?” Well it turns out it was an individual silver medal! The guy peaked at the absolutely perfect time. Congrats on a great career!

Pickles
4 years ago

What will he do now?

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Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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