Glenn Surgeloose

Who is Glenn Surgeloose?

Glenn Surgeloose is a Belgian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. He collected a bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle at the 2007 European Junior Swimming Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. Surgeloose is a member of Brabo Antwerp, and is coached and trained by Ronald Gaastra.

Surgeloose made his official debut, as a member of the Belgian team, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he qualified for the men's 200 m freestyle. He cleared a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:49.36 from the Mare Nostrum Barcelona International Trophy in Spain. He cruised to seventh place and thirtieth overall in heat five by a tenth of a second behind Greece's Andreas Zisimos in 1:48.92.

At the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Surgeloose broke a new long-course Belgian record of 1:48.29 to round out the finale in the 200 m freestyle. Surgeloose's personal best and overhauling effort in the final propelled him up to the top 25 world rankings.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Surgeloose extended his program by qualifying for two swimming events. For the second time, he posted a FINA B-cut of 1:48.96 from the World Championships in Shanghai, China. In the 200 m freestyle, Surgeloose challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including three-time Olympian Tiago Venâncio of Portugal and semifinalist Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or of Israel. He raced to fourth place by six hundredths of a second behind Venezuela's Cristian Quintero in his personal textile best of 1:48.77. Surgeloose failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-fifth overall in the preliminaries. Surgeloose also placed twelfth as a member of the Belgian team in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Teaming with Pieter Timmers, Dieter Dekoninck, and Louis Croenen, Surgeloose swam the second leg with a split of 1:48.22 to set a Belgian record of 7:14.44 in the heats.