July 2006 was a month to remember for a 15 year old called Ranomi Kromowidjojo.
A silver for the Dutch teenager in the 50m freestyle was accompanied by bronze in the butterfly dash at the European Junior Championships in Palma de Mallorca.
Three weeks later, the teenager made her senior international debut at the European Championships in Budapest and emerged with a silver medal as one quarter of the Dutch 4x100m freestyle relay.
Still just 16, Ranomi won relay bronze at the World Championships in Melbourne the following year before she wrote her name into the history books in 2008.
First up were the European Championships in Eindhoven in her native Netherlands where the 4x100m freestyle relay not only won gold but broke the world record in the process.
Then on to Beijing where the four women won the Olympic title days before Ranomi’s 18th birthday.
Since then the Dutch relay has won two more world titles – with another world record in 2009 – silver at the 2012 Olympics and bronze at the last World Championships in Barcelona.
So, what is key to the team’s consistent success?
“I don’t think there are secrets,” muses Ranomi, now 24.
“I think we are lucky in the Netherlands: we have a lot of female swimmers who swim the 50 and 100…
