Leo Verburgt

**Leonardus “Leo” Verburgt** also written as **Léon Verburgt** (26 July 1935 - 12 October 2014) was a Dutch swimmer, water polo player, painter and visual artist. 

In swimming he was multiple national champion and the Dutch record holder in the 200 and 400 meters freestyle. After his sports career he became director of the . Next to his sports career he was also an artist.

## Sports career
### Swimming
Verburgt did his first swimming record attempt in 1954 when he was trained by Hans Krischer and a member of ZON (Zwemvereniging Oranje Nassau).

In 1958 he couldn't join the Dutch team to a competition in Wuppertal due to an illness. In August he competed at the European Championships.

In July 1959 he saved a cat from drowning in the Dommel and went to a nearby sports location to gave him an oxygen mask. The same month he improved the Dutch national record in the 200 metres freestyle with 2.3 seconds. In August 1959 he became national champion in the 1500 metres, a distance he never swam before. He also became champion in the 400 metres. In February 1960, he broke Dutch national record in the 200 metres freestyle with 5 seconds. In January and again in May 1960 he broke the 200 freestyle metres record (25 metres pool).

In July 1960 he was for the third time part of the Dutch relay team swimming a national record in the 4x200 metres freestyle. The same month he was noticed that he had to turn up for a training as part of his military service in the period of the 1960 Summer Olympics. This was seen as a degradation of the Dutch relay swimming team and was described a disappointment for many people.  Later he was promised that he was allowed to skip the training if he would participate at the Olympics. However NOC*NSF had decided not to send the relay team to the Olympics. A few days later he was invited by NOC*NSF to come as a spectator to the Olympics, but Verburgt had mixed feelings about the invitation. He stated that he wanted to stop with competitive swimming but in early 1961 he wanted to return in the national team. and broke several regional records. One of his last reported competitive swimming achievement was in April 1963.

### Water Polo
Verburgt was also a water polo player for the PSV team. The team became national champions. He still played for PSV in December 1963.

## Artist
He has been reached by Jan Gregoor and Harry Stump. He was a member of “Cultureel Kontact”. He worked from Eindhoven, Heerlen, Eersel and also from New Guinea.

In January 1958 he finished a wall paining at the Sportfondsenbad.

### Expositions (selection)
*1957 - floor exposition at *Kunsthandel Van Wersch* in Eindhoven.
*1958 - 2nd “Cultureel Contact” exposition at Emmasingel in Eindhoven.
*March 1960 - paintings exposition at Studentenmensa in Eindhoven
*September 2015 - posthumous retrospective exhibition at Museum Kruysenhuis in Oirschot.

## Personal life
Verburgt was born on 26 July 1935 in Capelle aan den IJssel in the Netherlands. He lived in Eindhoven. He moved temporarily to southern Limburg and returned to Eindhoven in 1958. After his sports career he became director of the . He died on 12 October 2014, at the age of 79.

## References