Pernille Blume

Pernille Blume

Blume in 2015
Personal information
Nationality	Danish
Born	(1994-05-14) 14 May 1994 (age 30) Herlev, Denmark
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, medley
Club	CN Antibes[1] Sigma Nordsjælland (former)
Coach	Shannon Rollason (national team)
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  Denmark Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 2 World Championships (LC) 0 0 1 World Championships (SC) 3 0 2 European Championships (LC) 1 3 1 European Championships (SC) 5 2 6 Total 10 5 12 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 m freestyle 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m medley 2020 Tokyo 50 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 2017 Budapest 100 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 2012 Istanbul 4×100 m medley 2014 Doha 4×50 m medley 2014 Doha 4×100 m medley 2012 Istanbul 4×100 m freestyle 2014 Doha 4×50 m freestyle European Championships (LC) 2014 Berlin 4×100 m medley 2018 Glasgow 50 m freestyle 2018 Glasgow 4×100 m medley 2020 Budapest 50 m freestyle 2018 Glasgow 4×100 m freestyle European Championships (SC) 2011 Szczecin 4×50 m medley 2012 Chartres 4×50 m freestyle 2012 Chartres 4×50 m medley 2013 Herning 4×50 m freestyle 2013 Herning 4×50 m medley 2011 Szcczecin 4×50 m freestyle 2017 Copenhagen 4×50 m medley 2017 Copenhagen 50 m freestyle 2017 Copenhagen 100 m freestyle 2017 Copenhagen 4×50 m freestyle 2019 Glasgow 50 m freestyle 2019 Glasgow 4×50 m freestyle 2019 Glasgow 4×50 m mixed medley

Pernille Blume (Danish pronunciation: [ˈpʰɐniːlə ˈplum]; born 14 May 1994) is a Danish former swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle events.^[2] She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she was the gold medalist in the women's 50 metre freestyle and won a bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay where she swam the freestyle leg of the relay in both the prelims and the final.^[3] She also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle.

Personal life

Blume was born on 14 May 1994 in Herlev, Denmark.^[3][4]

In February 2020, Blume started dating Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou, and in September 2021 they announced their engagement.^[5][6]

Blume swam for Sigma Nordsjælland Club in Denmark until early 2022.^[7][1] When her fiancé, Florent Manaudou, announced he was changing swimming clubs, it was announced that Blume would likely change clubs to his new club, CN Antibes, as well, so she could train with him as they prepared for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Manaudou's home country of France.^[8] In February 2022, Blume officially switched to and started competing for CN Antibes.^[1] Manaudou and Blume separated in 2023.

Career

2012 Summer Olympics

See also: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Blume competed for the Danish team in five different events.^[4] In the 50 metre freestyle she failed to advance beyond the heats having finished 8th in her race and 26th fastest overall.^[9] In the 100 metre freestyle she again was eliminated in the first round after finishing 6th in her heat and 19th fastest overall.^[10] She won her heat of the 200 metre freestyle but did not advance to the next round after finishing 24th fastest overall.^[11] In the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay Blume swam in a Danish quartet along with Mie Nielsen, Lotte Friis and Jeanette Ottesen; they qualified for the final, in which they finished sixth, setting a new Danish national record of 3:37.45.^[12][13] In the 4 × 100 metre medley relay Blume, Nielsen, Ottesen and Rikke Pedersen reached the final and finished seventh.^[14]

2012 World Short Course Championships

Later in 2012 Blume won a gold medal at the World Short Course Championships in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay.^[7]

2014 World Short Course Championships

At the 2014 World Short Course Championships, Blume, Nielsen, Pedersen and Ottesen won a gold medal and set a new world record as they won the 4 × 50 metre medley relay.^[15] The quartet also won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay.^[16] Blume also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 50 metre freestyle relay.^[17]

2016 Summer Olympics

See also: Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics

2016 Summer Olympics
	50 m freestyle	24.07 (NR)
	4 × 100 m medley relay	3:55.01 (ER)

In 2016 Blume won the 50 metre freestyle event at the Danish open gala. She was subsequently selected to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she won 50 metre freestyle and also competed in 100 metre freestyle, the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay and the 4 × 100 metre medley relay where she anchored the medley and thereby contributed to the Danish team winning a bronze medal, just 0.01 seconds behind the Australian team who won the silver medal.^[18] Blume's gold medal was the first Olympic gold won by Denmark in swimming since Karen Harup at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Blume was Denmark's flag bearer at the closing ceremony.

2017

Blume participated in Edinburgh International 2017 and competed in the 50 metre freestyle event, finishing at 24.51 and winning the gold medal. She also won gold in the 100 metre freestyle with a time of 53.93.^[19] This was her first competition after the Rio Olympics.^[20] In April 2017 Blume participated in the Stockholm Swim Open; in the 50 metre freestyle event she finished second behind Sarah Sjöström with a time of 24.15.^[21]

2021

2020 Summer Olympics

See also: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics

2020 Summer Olympics
	50 m freestyle	24.21

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blume won a bronze medal in the women's 50 metre freestyle literally minutes after her significant other, Florent Manaudou, won a silver medal in the men's version of the race.^[22] Blume also competed in the women's 100 metre freestyle, where she placed tenth in the semifinals with a time of 53.26 seconds and did not advance to the final, and the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, where she helped the relay advance from the prelims heats to the final ranked seventh overall and contributed to the relay placing eighth in the final by swimming the lead-off leg in a time of 53.07 seconds.^[23]

Reality television debut

Following the 2020 Summer Olympics, Blume decided to capitalize on her Olympic fame by taking a break from swimming competition and transitioning to reality television by competing on the Danish dance show Vild med dans, where Danish celebrities compete against each other to earn the designation of top dancer of the group of celebrities who participate in the given season of the show.^[8][24] Her professional dance partner for the show was Morten Kjeldgaard, who previously won the show with his then-celebrity-partner Sarah Mahfoud, a professional boxer, in 2016.^[25] Blume's pasodoble on the dance floor with her partner in the eleventh week of competition, where she excelled dominantly in physical synchronization with her partner, along with her contribution in a group Charleston dance were good enough for her to advance to the semifinals of the competition.^[26] In the semifinals Blume advanced to the final with a score of 50 points, overcoming a wardrobe mishap during an Argentine tango where her garment just below hip level caught on and stuck to one of her partner's shirt buttons.^[27] In the grand finale, Blume and her partner placed third overall in the competition.^[28]

2022: Retirement

Following a multiple month break from swimming competition after the conclusion of the Olympic Games in August 2021, Blume returned to training in January 2022.^[29] The next month, Blume started competing internationally for her new professional swim club CN Antibes, which is based in Antibes, France.^[1] Approximately nine months later, SwimSwam, Swimming World, NBC Sports, and FINA announced she had permanently retired from the sport of swimming with no intent of returning to competition.^{[2][30][31][32]}

References

1. Keith, Braden (13 February 2022). "Florent Manaudou, Pernille Blume Swim First Long Course Races Since Olympics". SwimSwam. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
2. Race, Retta (27 October 2022). "Pernille Blume announces retirement". SwimSwam. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
3. "Pernille Blume". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Pernille Blume". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
5. Race, Retta (1 September 2021). "Sprint Champions Manaudou & Blume Announce Engagement". SwimSwam. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
6. D'Addona, Dan (1 September 2021). "Olympic Gold Medalists Pernille Blume, Florent Manaudou Announce Engagement". Swimming World. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
7. "Pernille er verdensmester". sn.dk (in Danish). 16 December 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
8. Keith, Braden (26 October 2021). "Florent Manaudou Leaves Longtime Club CN Marseille For Young Coaches At Antibes". SwimSwam. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
9. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 50 metres Freestyle Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
10. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 100 metres Freestyle Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
11. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Freestyle Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
12. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
13. "Australia won the women's swimming 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay final". Reuters. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
14. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Medley Relay Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
15. "World Record From Denmark, American Record From USA in 200 Medley Relay at Worlds". Swimming World Magazine. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
16. "Women's 4x100m Medley Relay". Omega Timing. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
17. "Women's 4x50m Freestyle". Omega Timing. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
18. Hansen, Thomas (11 May 2016). "Yderligere otte svømmere OL-klar" (in Danish). National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
19. "Meet Results". www.swimscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
20. "Pernille Blume on Dashing 24.5 To Get Her 2017 Racing Underway In Edinburgh". SwimVortex. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
21. "Sarah Sjostrom Thunders To 23.83 World Textile Best To Prune Blume". SwimVortex. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
22. Petty, Martin (31 July 2021). "Swimming-Medals in minutes for sprint couple Blume and Manaudou". Reuters. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
23. Omega Timing; Atos (1 August 2021). "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: Swimming Results Book" Archived 2021-08-07 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
24. Johnson, Annika (24 October 2021). "Pernille Blume Dominates Danish Dance Show With Highest Score Of The Week". SwimSwam. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
25. Johnson, Annika (November 9, 2021). "Pernille Blume Moves On To Week 10 Of Danish Dance Show". SwimSwam. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
26. Johnson, Annika (16 November 2021). "Pernille Blume Advances To Semifinals Of Danish Dance Show". SwimSwam. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
27. Johnson, Annika (23 November 2021). "Blume Secures Spot In Danish Dance Show Final With Highest Score". SwimSwam. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
28. Johnson, Annika (28 November 2021). "Pernille Blume Earns Third Place In Danish Dance Show Finale". SwimSwam. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
29. Dornan, Ben (13 January 2022). "Olympic Champion Pernille Blume Returns To Training After Post-Tokyo Hiatus". SwimSwam. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
30. Byrnes, Liz (27 October 2022). "Rio 2016 Champion Pernille Blume Announces Retirement After Achieving Her "Wildest Dreams"". Swimming World. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
31. OlympicTalk (27 October 2022). "Pernille Blume, Olympic swimming champion, retires". NBC Sports. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
32. "Danish freestyle ace Pernille Blume calls time on her career". FINA. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.

External links

• Pernille Blume at World Aquatics
• Pernille Blume at the International Swimming League (archived)
• Pernille Blume at Swimrankings.net
• Pernille Blume at Olympics.com
• Pernille Blume at Olympedia (archive)
• Pernille Blume at IMDb 
• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 December 2017) (in Danish)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by René Holten Poulsen	Danish Sports Name of the Year 2016	Succeeded by Viktor Axelsen