Dafne Schippers

Biography

Dafne Schippers is a Dutch athlete who competes in Track & Field events, Sprints and Heptathlon. Dafne won Silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics 200m women's Sprint. She is also the third fastest sprinter ever in the world in 200m women category (behind Florence Griffith-Joyner, Marion Jones)

[Dafne Schippers- Fit, Agile, Muscular & totally Hot]

Childhood - Family

Dafne was born on 15th June 1992 in to Ernst Schippers(Father) & Karin Schippers(mother). Her father is a physical therapist and Mother a middle school teacher.

[ Baby Dafne Schipper ]

Dafne has two older siblings. A brother named Derek Schippers and a sister in Sanne Schippers. Dafne and Sanne are both cooking enthusiasts, the sisters write on cooking in collaboration on their blog. Dafne is the aunt of two nephews through her sister Sanne. One of the nephews is Fedde.

Her brother Derek has managed her business in the past. The family is very closely knit. 

[ young Dafne Schipper ]

Education

• She got a HAVO diploma from the Leidsche Rijn College in Utrecht in the year 2009.

Dafne likes kookboek

Dafne likes cooking, With her sister Sanne, she writes a cooking Blog. You can follow her recipes on FB & Instagram as well (Dafne FB recipes) (Dafne Instagram recipes). She keeps posting cooking recipies ocne in a while.

She has written a cookbook titled 'Dafne likes kookboek' (in Dutch), it contains her detailed instructions on cooking her favorite recipes.

[ Dafne Schippers with Sister Sanne Schippers ]

Boyfriend

Dafne Schippers & Nicky Romero

Dafne dated Mr. Nicky Romero, a D.J by profession in 2016 and early 2017. In the early February 2017 the two decided to separate because of busy schedules, travels and different career goals.

[ Dafne Schippers & Nicky Romero ]

"A somewhat less pleasant message, but because of the busy travel schedules, obligations and personal career goals, for which we both want to go full, it turned out that we cannot make enough time for each other" said Dafne and Nicky. They have decided to continue to be good friends.

Personal Bests- Statistics

Standard (Olympic) events

Non-standard events

Interesting Facts & Trivia

• Dafne Schippers started her participation in Athletics when she was 9 years old. Her training began at the Hellas in Utrecht.
• School teacher Dafne: Dafne wanted to be a elementary school teacher if not for her career in sports. Her mother is a school teacher and an inspiration to the daughter.
• She is going through English classes to get better in the language.
• Fastest Dutch Woman: She is the fastest Dutch woman. She holds the Dutch records in 100m and 200m.
• 3rd Fastest Sprinter ever: She is the third fastest 200m female sprinter ever.
• She is the first ever Dutch woman to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.
• European record: She holds the European record in women's 200m race.
• Indoor European Champion: She has been the indoor European Champion in sprint.
• Dafne Schippers Bridge: In April 2017 in Utrecht (her birth place) a bridge was named after her (Dafne Schippersbrug). A heart warming gesture by the authorities of her home town.
• Can play Tennis: She is a very good tennis player as well.
• Full time sprinting: Since 2015 she has moved to full time sprinting, she has given up on Heptathlon and Long jump events. She announced her shifting on twitter in June 2015.
• Endorsements: Dafne Schippers is supported by brands like:
  • AA-Drink
  • Campina (Dairy products)
  • Discovered
  • Hublot (gadgets/ watches)
  • Nike
  • Porsche
  • Toyota Nederland
  • Vattenfall
  • Ziggo Sport
• Secret of her glowing skin: She eats normal healthy food, she believes that is the secret of her glowing skin.
• Animal Lover: She has a pet dog named Noa.
• Cooking Enthusiast: 
• Likes Photography : Photography is another hobby she has. She likes capturing emotions and sceneries.
• She trains at the club- Hellas (Utrecht).
• Doping rumours: There were some speculations about her Acne being signs of doping, Dafne clarifies that her family has had issues with Acne, that her mother had them till she was 30-40.
• First White woman: She is the first white woman since Barbel Wockel in 1980 to win a medal in 200m sprint at the Olympics.
• Fastest in the school: She was the fastest in her school races that included even the Boys, "The boys weren't happy about it" she says laughing. She has been a standout athlete from her childhood days.
• Fame of the Dutch: Dafne is one of the most famous women in her country Holland. Dutch are very sports loving people, that helps. Being an outstanding achiever in athletics for her country has made her a popular figure in the country.
• Comparison to Fanny Blankers-Koen: She has been compared to the legendary Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen, Fanny had won 100m, 200m, 100X4 Relay and 100m Hurdles Gold at the Olympics back in 1948. It is indeed a honor to be compared to the legend.
• The Flying Dutch woman: she is fondly called the "flying Dutch woman"
• Philanthropy
  • Prinses Máxima Centrum: she is an ambassador of the "Princess Máxima Centre", In collaboration with the non-profit organization, she visits cancer hospital for the little children, she helps cheer up the mood in the hospital by racing with little girls in the hospital
  •  

Career Highlights

2019 World Championships

At the Doha (Qatar) World Championships held in 2019 Dafne participated only in the 100m event. She clocked 11.17s in the First round and qualified to the semis as the topper of her heats. 

In the semifinals she was in the same heats as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce & Murielle Ahouré. she failed to get an automatic qualification, however she got qualified to the finals on the basis of fastest time. Dafne did not start (DNS) in the finals because of the adductor (hip and leg muscle) problem. It was won by Shelly-Ann FRASER-PRYCE (10.71s)

2018 European Championships

Dafne participated in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events of the Championships held at Berlin, Germany.

100m: Dafne was given a bye from the first round, she entered the semifinals directly. She topped her heats (3) with the timing of 11.05s. In the finals she clocked 10.99s to win bronze medal. Dina Asher-Smith of GBR won the gold with 10.85s, Gina Lückenkemper of Germany clocked 10.98s to win silver.

200m: Dafne entered the semifinals directly through a bye. She topped her heats (2) with 22.69 to enter the finals. Dina Asher-Smith(21.89) of Britain overtook Dafne(22.14) in the finals to win the Gold. Jamile Samuel, Dafne's compatriot won the bronze with 22.37s. 

4x100m relay: In the first round of the relay, the Dutch team (of Dafne Schippers, Jamile Samuel, Marije van Hunenstijn, Naomi Sedney) qualified to the next round with a timing of 42.62s. In the finals, the Dutch managed to outrun everyone except the British. They clocked 42.15s, the British clocked 41.88s and the German 42.23 to win Bronze.

2017 IAAF World Championships

100m: At the 2017 Athletics world championships held at London, Dafne won bronze in the 100m category. She qualified to the semifinals from round 1 with 11.08s. In the semifinals she clocked 10.98s to qualify for the finals. In the finals she clocked 10.96s to win bronze, behind Tori Bowie of USA & Marie-Josée Ta Lou of Ivory Coast.

200m: She won a gold medal for her country in the 200m sprint event. She was not at her best on the day, she clocked 22.05 seconds in the finals, way behind her best of 21.66s, fortunately for her, her competitors weren't up to the mark on the day either. She defeated Marie-Josée Ta Lou (Ivory Coast) & Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas) for the top spot on the podium.

[ Dafne Schippers wins Gold at the 2017 World Championships]

4x100m relay: The relay team qualified for the finals with a qualification round timing of 42.64s. However they had an average performance in the finals and finished last with 43.07s.

2016 Olympic Games

2016 Olympics of Rio de Janeiro was Dafne's second Olympics event. She had previously participated in the Heptathlong and relay events. In the 2016 Olympics she restricted herself to 100m, 200m and the relay events.

100m: The 2016 Olympics 100m race was a very closely fought event. Dafne topped her heats(2) in the qualifications round with the time of 11.16s. In the Semifinals she finished behind the Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with the timing of 10.90s in the heats 2.

The Finals was very competitive, Dafne with her time of 10.90 couled only manage to finish 5th. Elaine Thompson of Jamaica won the Gold, Tori Bowie of USA got Silver and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the bronze. Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory coast lost bronze by the margin of microseconds.

200m: Dafne topped her round 1 Heats (1) with 22.51s. She topped her heats (1) again in the semifinals with the timing of 21.96s, leaving behind Elaine Thompson of Jamaica and Deajah Stevens of USA

In the closely ran finals Dafne finished just behind the 100m gold winner Elaine Thompson with the timing of 21.88s to win the silver medal. Elaine achieved her gold double with the timing of 21.78s. Tori Bowie of USA won the bronze. It was Dafne's first ever Olympics medal.

[ 200m Rio Olympics Finals ]

4x100m relay: the team of Dafne Schippers, Jamile Samuel, Naomi Sedney & Tessa van Schagen could only manage to finish 6th at the first round of the event. They were outran by the Jamaica, GB, Ukraine, Canada & China relay teams. There was a bad baton exchange between Jamile Samuel & Dafne Schippers.

2016 European Championships

She competed in the 100m and 4x100m events at the championship held in the capital city of her country- Amsterdam, Netherlands.

100m: Dafne was given a bye from the first round, thus she made her first appearance in the semifinals itself. She topped the semifinals chart with 10/96 seconds (obviously topping her heats(1) as well). Desiree Henry of Great Brtain was the 2nd topper with 11.09s. Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland was the 3rd topper with 11.23s.

In the Finals Dafne clocked 10.90s to win the Gold medal. Ivet Lalova-Collio of Bulgaria won silver with 11.20s, Mujinga Kambundji won bronze with 11.25 seconds while Desiree Henry did not finish (DNF) the race.

4x100m relay: The Netherlands team managed to barely qualify for the finals with a timing of 43.34s in the heats. However as Dafne Schippers joined the team for the finals, the team ran a sensational relay to win the historical gold medal with a timing of 42.04s. They also achieved the national record.

2015 World Championships

She competed in 3 events at the Beijing, China Championships. Won Gold in 200m category, silver in the 100m and a disqualification in the 4x100m event. 

100m: Dafne won her heats(5) race with the timing of 11.01s. Tori Bowie of USA topped the Round 1 chart with 10.88s, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica was placed 2nd by a hair split (10.88s). 

In the Semifinals Dafne ran her fastest to create the national record of 10.83s. She topped her heats while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce topped the overall charts. Dafne bettered her semifinals score to 10.81s in the finals, but finished just behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.76s) to win the Silver medal. Tori Bowie of USA won the bronze medal (10.86s)

200m: In the first round events held on August 26 2015 Dafne topped her Heats (6) with 2.58 seconds. Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain topped the overall charts with 22.22s. 

Dafne again topped her semifinals heats(2) clocking 22.36s. Dina Asher-Smith of GBR again topped the overall charts with 22.12s. Elaine Thompson of Jamaica was a close second at 22.13s.

In the finals held on 18th August Dafne managed to create a Championship record (CR) by clocking 21.63 seconds. It is also the European record and the world's 3rd fastest sprint of all time. While Dafne won gold, Elaine Thompson had to settle for silver, Veronica Campbell-Brown of USA got the bronze.

[ Dafne Schippers wins Gold at the 2015 World Championships clocking 21.63 seconds]

4x100m relay: Team of Dafne Schippers, Jamile Samuel, Nadine Visser, Naomi Sedney managed to get into the finals with a qualification time of 42.32s. The Dutch team was disqualified in the finals.

2014 European Championships

At the 2014 European Championships held in Zürich, Switzerland she participated in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

100m: In the first round Dafne clocked 11.10s to qualify as the topper of the heat 2, also 2nd in the overall round 1 charts, Myriam Soumaré of France had run faster than Dafne in 11.03s. Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria was the third in the charts with 11.17s.

In Semifinals Dafne topped her Heats (2) again with the timing of 11.08s. Ivet & Myriam followed her closely. In the finals Dafne clocked 11.12s and won gold ahead of Myriam Soumaré(11.16s) and Ashleigh Nelson(11.22) of Great Britain.

200m: Dafne achieved the timing of 22.63s in the qualifiers to qualify as the topper of the chart from all 5 heats. Her national compatriot Jamile Samuel qualified by topping her heats (4). Dafne again topped the semifinal charts with the timing of 22.38s. Myriam Soumaré of France was second in the list with 22.46s. 

Dafne achieved her career best (till that point)  of 22.03 seconds and finished way ahead of her competitors to win the Gold medal. Jodie Williams of Great Britain finished 2nd with 22.46s, while Myriam Soumaré won bronze with 22.58s. Jamile Samuel finished 6th with 23.31s.

2013 World Championships

Dafne competed in the Heptathlon event at the championships held in Moscow, Russia. She managed to better her personal aggregate score to 6477 points while also creating a new national record and winning the Bronze medal. 

As expected she did well in the racing and jumping events while falling behind in the throwing events. she managed to finish 3rd ahead of Claudia Rath of Germany. Hanna Melnychenko of Ukraine, Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada topped the charts with 6586 & 6530 points respectively.

[Dafne's points table at the 2013 World Championships]

2013 European U23 Championships

Dafne participated in 3 events at the under 23 European Athletics Championships held at Tampere, Finland.

100m: She won Gold at the Championships by clocking 11.13 seconds. Jodie Williams of United Kingdom followed her at a distance and finished 2nd (11.42s). Tatjana Pinto of Germany finished 3rd  (11.50s). Dafne had topped both the Semi-finals and the heats chart with the timings of 11.30s and 11.20s, the three timings(heats, semi-finals, finals) she achieved at the event were the top 3 timings of the event overall, nobody else touched them in the heats, semis or finals. 

4x100 relay: the Dutch team of Dafne Schippers, Jamile Samuel, Loreanne Kuhurima & Madiea Ghafoor finished 4th and missed out on the bronze medal by a small margin. The team clocked 44.18 seconds and finished behind Italy (43.86) which won the Bronze. Germany (43.29s) and the United Kingdom (43.83s) won gold and Silver respectively.

Long jump: Dafne qualified to the finals with her very first jump of 6.49m in the qualifications, she also topped both group A & B charts. At the final she managed to better her distance to 6.59m. It was sufficient to get her a Bronze medal. Lena Malkus of Germany won Gold with the jump of 6.76m, Krystyna Hryshutyna of Ukraine won Silver with a jump of 6.61m.

2012 London Olympics

Dafne was just 20 when she participated at the London Olympic Games. She participated in 4x100m relay as well as her favorite Heptathlon event.

4x100m relay: The Dutch team comprising of Dafne Schippers, Eva Lubbers, Jamile Samuel and Kadene Vassell qualified for the finals with a qualifying time of 42.45 seconds, they had achieved the Dutch national record. It was the 3rd best score in the heat 1. The team finished 6th in the finals with the timing of 42.70 seconds. The American team and Jamaicans finished 1st and 2nd respectively.

Heptathlon: Dafne scored her career best of 6324 points at the 2012 Olympics and finished 11th in the overall standings. Jessica Ennis of Great Britain won the Gold medal while Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany & Austra Skujytė of Lithuania won Silver and Bronze medals respectively. Dafne did great in her strong events 200m and long jump/ Her weak events Javelin throw, High jump and shot put pushed her down the standings table.

[Dafne's points table at the 2012 Olympics]

2012 European Championships

At the European Championships held in Helsinki, Finland she competed in 2 events- 200m and 4x100m relay.

4x100 Relay: The Dutch relay team struck silver at the event with the timing of 42.80s, a new national record.

200m: Dafne had a good run at Championships, she won the "round 1" race clocking 23.11s, she was thus  automatically qualified for the semi-finals. She was the fastest along all semi-finalists with an impressive 22.70 seconds. However she finished 5th at the Finals with  timing of 23.53 seconds, her compatriot Jamile Samuel was 6th with the timing of 23.55s

2011 World Championships

At the 2011 World championships held at Daegu, South Korea, she competed in the 200m and 4x100m relay categories, it was her first stint at the senior level, she was just 19 at the time. She finished 9th in both the events.

200m: She managed to break the Dutch National record in the 200m category with her impressive 22.62s sprint in the heats. She reached semi-finals but failed to proceed further.

4x100 relay: She created a National record in 4x100 relay with a timing of 43.44s with her team. They were eliminated in the heats itself. They finished 9th overall.

2011 European Junior Athletics Championships

At the 21st European Junior Championships held at the Kadrioru Stadium in Tallinn, Estonia between 21st and 24th July 2011, Dafne won the gold medal in the Heptathlon event. She topped the charts with an impressive score of 6153.

Sara Gambetta of Germany scored 6108 points to win silver, while Laura Ikauniece of Latvia won bronze medal with the score of 6063. Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain had scored 6787 points.

2010 World Junior Athletics Championships

She has won the gold medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships Heptathlon event in 2010. She had accumulated 5967 points from the 7 events, while her closest competitor Sara Gambetta from Germany could only gather 5770 points. A difference of nearly 200 points. Dafne had top scored in 3 (100m hurdles, 200m and Long jump) of 7 events. Her aggregate score of 5967 is a National junior record in the Netherlands.

She won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay race with her team (Eva Lubbers, Jamile Samuel, Loreanne Kuhurima) at the same event. The team had finished the relay in 44.09 seconds, a national junior record at the time.

[ Dafne Schippers Heptathlon scores at the 2010 Junior World championships ]

Sources

1. Dafne Schippers wiki
2.