Education
At the 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Debrecen she surprisingly finished 6th in her first international final, the 100 m freestyle. She also finished 10th in the 200 m freestyle.
At the 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Debrecen she surprisingly finished 6th in her first international final, the 100 m freestyle. She also finished 10th in the 200 m freestyle.
As part of the Dutch team, she holds the world record 4 × 100 m freestyle relay on both short course and long course. In short course she is also part of the Dutch team who holds the 4×200 m freestyle relay world record. Individually she is owner of five national records, two in long course, 200 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and three in short course, 200 m freestyle, 200 m backstroke and 200 m individual medley.
Early career
Femke Heemskerk made her international debut at the World LC Championships 2005 in Montreal as a relay-swimmer.
She only swum in the heats of the 4×100 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle events. She competed in the European LC Championships 2006 and the European Short Course Swimming Championships.
But individually she did not advance past the heats in both events. Spring 2008
With the same team she ended fourth in the 4×200 m freestyle relay.
Individually she did not reach the semi-finals.
The next month she competed in Manchester at the World South Carolina Championships 2008 where she again broke two relay records in the 4×200 m freestyle with the same team as in Eindhoven. In the 4×100 m freestyle Hinkelien Schreuder replaced Ranomi Kromowidjojo who suffered from an elbow injury. During the National Championships in June 2008, Heemskerk lowered three national records on the long course, 200 m freestyle, 200 m individual medley and 100 m backstroke.
2008 Summer Olympics
She did so alongside Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Marleen Veldhuis in a time of 3:33.76, just 0.14 outside their own world record.
The day after she competed individually in the 200 m individual medley where she finished 28th during the heats. Heemskerk was the lead-off swimmer in both 4×200 m freestyle and 4×100 m medley relays, both of which did not qualify for the finals.
Fall 2008
After the Olympics Heemskerk returned to competition at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships where she qualified for the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle. The week afterwards she participated in the 2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Rijeka, Croatia.
She also finished fifth in the 100 m medley.
At the end of 2008 she became Amsterdam Sportswoman of the year
She anchored the team with a split time of 52.46, the fastest split in the final by 0.53. 2012
= London Olympics The gold medal went to Australia.