Mart Smeets (79) was seen on television all the time for years, but now we never actually see him anymore. Is he okay? Why is he never on television? “Balance problem.”
According to critics, it is one of the most pedantic stars we have ever seen on television: Mart Smeets. He was always quite headstrong, yet he remained one of the most important sports presenters of the NOS for decades. He is now 79 and we hardly see him anymore. Not even on television talk shows.
‘Don’t miss it’
Mart says he no longer wants to be on television. Does he never miss it? “No. That was a very conscious choice. At a certain point that stops,” he says in the Party.
He continues: “I have never felt the need to appear in all kinds of talk shows or well-known Dutch programs; I never felt at home there. I prefer to write. That gives me the opportunity to tell stories that I find important. Moreover, I can set my own pace.”
Walking stick
It is also difficult for Mart to sit at a talk show table. He suffers from balance problems. “Yes, that remains. If I get up from a chair, I can lose my balance. If I walk and have to react quickly, that can be difficult. The doctors say I just have to get used to it, so I do.”
That’s why he now uses a walking stick. “Yes, then you have a third leg, which helps. There’s really nothing more to say about it. It is what it is.”
Rickety
Physically things are not going so well, says Mart. The years start to count. “Of course. I’m as rickety as an old door. There are all kinds of things that don’t go as well as they used to, but that applies to a lot of people my age. I’m no exception; I can no longer do a lot of things that used to be self-evident.”
He spent the last years of his life in Haarlem. “Yes, why should I leave? I’m doing well there. I live quite quietly, I hardly have a social life, I do my shopping, read a lot and write a lot. Furthermore, I don’t really have to be everywhere.”