Bruinsma first competed for the Netherlands at Glasgow in 2014.[3] Her first major international competition was the 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships in Funchal, where she competed in six events, and took a medal in five of them. Three of her Funchal medal's were gold: 400 m freestyle (S11), 100 m breaststroke (SB11) and the 200 m find. medley (SM11).
In the same year, Bruinsma made her Paralympic Games debut, winning five medals including two golds in the 200 metres individual medley and the 400 metres freestyle.[4]
During the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Bruinsma raised protests against the victory of Chinese swimmers, the Paralympics organizing committee then accepted her protest and decided to cancel the competition. This has led to huge anger and protest in Chinese social media, especially when the two Chinese swimmers suffered from visual impairments as well. The competition was repeated on 29 August 2021, and the two Chinese swimmers won the gold and silver again while Bruinsma finished fourth.[5][6][7]
