Olympian Pieter Timmers Follows Through On Planned Retirement | SwimSwam

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2020 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – MATCH 8

• Thursday, November 5 & Friday, November 6
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ISL Technical Handbook
• 2020 ISL Scoring Format
• 2020 ISL Prize Money and Bonuses
• Omega Results
• Teams: London Roar, Tokyo Frog Kings, Cali Condors, New York Breakers
• Full Results

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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