Dutch swimmer recovers from leukemia, wins men's 10K swim gold

BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China – Dutch swimmer Maarten van der Weijden skirted just inside the final red buoy and grabbed gold in the men's 10-kilometer open water marathon, completing his recovery from leukemia. Van der Weijden won a three-way sprint Thursday under a steady rain. David Davies of Britain and Thomas Lurz of Germany settled for silver and bronze. Van der Weijden finished in 1 hour, 51 minutes, 51.6 seconds. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. He came back in 2003 and began swimming faster than before he had the disease. He now commits a large portion of his time to raising awareness for leukemia, and raised euro50,000 (US$73,670) with a charity swim in 2004. After the race, Van der Weijden said, "I think the leukemia taught me to think step by step." – AP