| Birth Name: | Lisa Kruger |
| Nationality: | Dutch |
| Birth Date: | 4 September 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Harderwijk, The Netherlands |
| Education: | VWO graduate |
| Website: | www.lisakruger.nl |
| Country: | The Netherlands |
| Sport: | Swimming |
| Disability: | Madelung's deformity |
| Disability Class: | S10 / SB9 / SM10 |
| Event: | Breaststroke Freestyle Backstroke Individual medley Butterfly |
| Club: | De Dolfijn, Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
| Coach: | Bram Dekker (national). Former coaches: Sander Nijhuis (national), Kira Fijn (school), Jeanet Mulder (national), Mark Faber (national), Corrie van Gent (club) |
Lisa Kruger (born 4 September 2000) is a Dutch swimmer who is a member of the Dutch Paralympic team.[1]
She competes in the S10/SB9/SM10 classifications and her best event is the SB9 100 m breaststroke, winning the Paralympic gold medal and breaking a World and Paralympic record (1.15.47) at the Summer Paralympics in Rio the Janeiro, on 8 September 2016.[2] She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's 100 metre breaststroke SB9, winning a silver medal; Women's 100 metre freestyle S10, winning a bronze medal; Women's 100 metre backstroke S10, winning a bronze medal; and Women's 200 metre individual medley SM10, winning a bronze medal.[3]
Kruger was born healthy in 2000, but in 2006 she fell from a wall, breaking several bones in her left arm. She had surgery which appeared to be successful. She then started with modern pentathlon (a sport where you compete in running, swimming, fencing, shooting and horseback riding). At 8 years old, she finished in 3rd place at the Dutch Youth Championships.
Her left arm started giving her more and more burden and pain and the arm started to grow crooked. She had less and less movement in her left arm and noticed that, in relation to her right arm, the left arm seemed to be shorter. She had to return to the hospital and there they discovered that the epiphysis of the radius was so damaged during her fall, that one bone was no longer growing. Because the other bones in her arm are still growing, her left arm is growing crooked. This growth disorder is also known as Madelung's deformity. Only, in Kruger's case, the disorder is caused by a trauma and is not a hereditary or congenital defect. Because of these problems she had to undergo multiple surgeries, including an operation to extend the bone, where a pin was inserted to the non-growing bone, with a swivel mechanism on the outside. For three months she had to tighten the screws every day, in order to slightly lengthen the bone. This radical surgery did not do what the doctors hoped for and the doctor declared her inoperable in August 2014. As far as trying to extend the non-growing bone, the bone had been pushed over her carpal bones, which only caused her to have less movement in her wrist. So she has limited movement in her wrist, she can not turn her arm, can not put any pressure on her arm and can not hang on it. Her left arm is now about 7 centimetres shorter than the right arm and her left hand is a little bit smaller than her right hand. She has virtually no strength in her left hand and therefore 70% less strength in her left arm in comparison to her right arm. Until she stops growing she has to have regular check-ups at the Erasmus hospital in Rotterdam to see if there is a need for emergency surgery because of the imbalance.
Lisa Kruger made her international debut at the IPC World Championships in 2015.
Lisa Kruger participated in the Paralympic Games at Rio de Janeiro 2016 and the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
To honour her accomplishments at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, the city of Harderwijk named the competition pool in Harderwijk "The Lisa Kruger Pool".[4]
Netherlands at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
Website Lisa Kruger[6]