“It was very nice to see each other again,” says Koen Verweij about the reunion with Jutta Leerdam. The 31-year-old Koedijker saw his girlfriend win silver at the Olympic Games and he had to miss her for a month.
“You don’t always have to say something. Sometimes just holding and cuddling is enough,” Verweij says about the moment the two saw each other. TeamNL organized a tribute to all medal winners in the Hilton Hotel at Schiphol. Verweij was sitting there in the hall as an invitee and lover of Leerdam. “It took a long time”, Verweij laughs about the ceremony. “But it’s part of it.”
In the previous Games, Verweij was involved as a skater. This edition, the sprinter failed to qualify for the OKT. “It is the way it is. Of course I would have liked to be there and support Jutta. But that was not the case.”
At the ceremony, Verweij saw all his colleagues on stage and that sometimes leads to mixed feelings. “I know what I can do when I’m fit. If I don’t have an injury, I just compete for the medals and I’m there too. I dare to say that.”
The World Sprint Championships are scheduled for Leerdam in two weeks. There is therefore not much time for celebrations for the two. “Jutta will then go on holiday for a while and then we can enjoy ourselves.”