Martin Michel van der Spoel (born February 19, 1971 in Ermelo

Ermelo

Ermelo is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland in the Veluwe area with a population of over 26.000.-Etymology:...

, Gelderland

Gelderland

Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...

) is a former freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 and medley

Medley swimming

Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...

 swimmer from the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, who competed for his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics

The swimming competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States, which was built for the Games...

 in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. There he finished in tenth place in the 200m Individual Medley, and in fifth (4x100) and seventh position (4x200) with the Men's Freestyle Relay Teams. Van der Spoel was the biggest rival of Holland's Marcel Wouda

Marcel Wouda

Marcel Reinier Wouda is a former Dutch swimmer, who became Holland's first world champion when he won the world title in the 200 m individual medley at the FINA 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia...

, who later would become the nation's first world champion in swimming (1998).