ROTTERDAM – D66 alderman for Culture, Events, Community Affairs and Language, Joan Nunnely, has refused to answer questions submitted by SP Rotterdam regarding twenty years of the Rotterdam Swim. The city swim around Noordereiland has no longer been allowed to be organized since the 14th edition in 2021 following a decision by Rotterdam Festivals.
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The oldest European city swim, which raises awareness and funds for clean water and an annual river clean up at UN – International Day Of Water and people with disabilities and multiple World Disabled Day events to raise awareness for UN – International Day of People with Disabilities, grew into an internationally recognized event thanks to participants from both the Netherlands and abroad. Over the years, the three-kilometre swim around the Noordereiland on the 1.234 km long Rhine attracted hundreds of participants and thousands of visitors to the city.
Joan Nunnely
As long as Joan Nunnely continues to refuse to answer SP Rotterdam’s questions about the Rotterdam Swim, the editorial team of Havennieuws, media partner of the event, says it will continue to report on Europe’s oldest city swim.
Erasmus MC
It should be noted that the Rotterdam Swim is not the civil servants’ swimming event in the Wijnhaven area, which has been known as the Rotterdam City Swim since 2024. According to the organizers of the original event, the name creates confusion because it closely resembles that of the long-established Rotterdam Swim. They argue that this mirrors a situation in Amsterdam, where the Amsterdam Swim (www.amsterdamswim.com) was stolen by civil servants of Waternet.
The report below, produced by Havennieuws TV, includes a compilation of footage from RTV Rijnmond covering the very first edition of the swim.