Nel van Vliet

Dutch swimmer (1926-2006)

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Born: January 17, 1926
Died: January 4, 2006
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Birth year: 1926

About Nel van Vliet

Petronella "Nel" van Vliet was a breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands. She won gold medals in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1947 European Aquatics Championships and 1948 Summer Olympics. In 1973, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In 1943, she became national champion in the 200 m breaststroke, her favorite discipline. After this problem was rectified, she became European (1947) and Olympic (1948) champion in the 200 m breaststroke event. To win the 1948 Olympics, it was sufficient for her to swim eight seconds slower than her personal best time, that is, the world record.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Nel van Vliet timeline

1943In 1943, she became national champion in the 200 m breaststroke, her favorite discipline.
1947She won gold medals in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1947 European Aquatics Championships and 1948 Summer Olympics.
1947After this problem was rectified, she became European (1947) and Olympic (1948) champion in the 200 m breaststroke event.
1948To win the 1948 Olympics, it was sufficient for her to swim eight seconds slower than her personal best time, that is, the world record.

The world when Nel van Vliet was born

Nel van Vliet was born in 1926. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1926

#1 song"Bye Bye Blackbird"
Top movieThe General (Buster Keaton)
Best-selling bookThe Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentGertrude Ederle swims the English Channel
Top headlineA.A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh
Technology milestoneFirst demonstration of television
Defining fadFlagpole sitting
Notable inventionPop-up toaster
World population2.01 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
U.S. population117.4M

1926 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Nel van Vliet's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1926	2026
Gas	$0.23	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,000	$435,000
Average income	$3,620	$67,500
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.02	$0.73
Population	117.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.