Estavana Polman has extremely bad eyesight. The handball player currently only has 30 percent vision, but refuses to be treated by specialists. “She is terrified.”
The high word is out: Estavana Polman is quitting her career as a handball player and that is why a TV career now beckons. A while ago she successfully presented the program Beter Laat Dan Nooit and now both RTL and Talpa seem to be interested in her. What few people know is that she is secretly struggling with enormous problems at home.
30 percent
Estavana, for example, can barely see. She only has 30 percent left, but she still refuses treatment. “Estavana is terrified of anyone in a white coat,” says Gerben Engelen, the author of her biography, in Weekend.
“The syringes for her knee were a big drama time and time again, which is really torture for her. She is also looking at laser treatment, which would allow her to see forty percent better. It has been proposed a number of times, but she has always turned it down.”
Toddler
Can no one convince Estavana? No, says Gerben. “She doesn’t want to think about someone picking her eyes, the very idea makes her feel nauseous. I don’t know if she would dare take the risk once she has stopped.”
“She will undoubtedly drink a few wines beforehand. I think her eyesight is reasonably stable now, but consistently poor. It is remarkable that you can be such a good athlete with so little vision.”
Paracetamol
In addition, Estavana suffers from a lot of pain from all the injuries she had. She is never pain-free for a day and her body ‘feels like that of an 80-year-old’. “Estavana used to eat paracetamol and ibuprofen for breakfast almost every day, which kept her going. Later she learned to deal with it better.”
Handball is a tough sport, he concludes. “On the field it’s all about the blood. Despite the pain in her body, I think she finds the sacrifices she has made well worth it. She has mastered handball
Giving the Netherlands a face, with the highlight of course being the world championship in 2019.”