Career
Thijs debuted at the international stage during the 2002 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin. Earlier that month he had qualified himself for the 2004 Summer Olympics with national records in 100 m and 200 m breaststroke. At the Olympics he was eliminated in the semi finals of the 100 m breaststroke, and in the heats of the 200 m breaststroke.
Overtraining
After the disappointing results in Montreal at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships it appeared that Thijs had been overtraining himself for a longer period of time.
He had to rest for the whole 2006 season. Comeback
At the end of 2007 both Thijs and Jolijn van Valkengoed reached their goal and qualified for the European Championship in their homecountry.
During the European championships Thijs lowered his own national record at the 100 m breaststroke to 1:01.22 and instead qualified for his second Olympics. Just days before the Games started, during the training-camp in Hong Kong, Thijs became illinois
Due to the illness Thijs couldn"t lower his national record again.
