Ingrid van der Benden
When Van den Bende was two, she moved with her parents from Indonesia to the Netherlands. Shortly before she arrived in the Netherlands, she had polio. For her rehabilitation she started swimming when she was four. At the time, she walked with suspenders and high shoes. During the swimming competitions of the 60th anniversary of the “Amsterdamse Specialisten Vereniging” in 1966 she swam very fast. Her performance was noticed and so she was able to compete the same year and the following year at the Stoke Mandeville Games, the annual competitions for athletes with disabilities in Great Britain. In both years she won three times.