Marijn de Vries, former professional cyclist and journalist, now that the stories about transgressive behavior at NOS Sport are piling up, finally feels safe enough to tell her story.
The stories about transgressive behavior at NOS Sport are becoming more and more common. Now that the Volkskrant article about the abuses is coming up, Jack van Gelder has been the first to confess his involvement in two incidents. And this media storm means that former professional cyclist and journalist Marijn de Vries is now also telling her story.
‘Wines n**ken’
Marijn tells in a column NRC the shocking story about her summer at De Avondetappe. She was allowed to participate for three weeks in 2016 as a permanent analyst of the cycling talk show, alongside Danny Nelissen and Rob Harmeling. In that season, Dione de Graaff and Herman van der Zandt were the presenters for the first time.
It was a huge disappointment. “Imagine ending up in the car next to a colleague who only talks foul language for days on end. Sometimes there is someone else in the car, but most of the time you are alone with them. Then he talks about females. And n**ken. About which bitches he f*cked, by name and surname. Which bitches he still wants to f**k.”
‘naked, dirty, small’
Marijn said something about it ‘ten times’, but according to her, that colleague just continued. “Imagine that the other person who is sometimes there comes to you after two weeks: Marijn, he also talks about you that way. He says you can tell you’ve been away from home for a long time by the way you walk. That you need a good turn.”
Marijn felt ‘naked, dirty, small’ when she had to sit in the car next to this colleague. She decided to go to the editor-in-chief. “Imagine being told that making a different car schedule is very difficult. But come on, there is a deep sigh, that has to be done.”
Weird atmosphere
Nothing else has been done with the report, says Marijn. “An atmosphere in which you are told that you really don’t have to be afraid to get in the car with him, hahaha. Everyone laughs. And you stand there. Only. (…) Imagine being the fun TV analyst in that atmosphere. With the dirty chatterbox opposite you at the table.”
After that, Marijn was no longer welcome at all. She told her story to the editor-in-chief, but he never spoke again. The fact that she has now become ‘one of the permanent cycling analysts on Belgian television’ proves that it is not due to her qualities. “It damaged my career, but most of all, me as a person.”
‘Shame on me’
The evening stage grease pipe that Marijn writes about causes a lot of bewilderment. She is inundated with responses of support. “A very fierce column that comes in and screams for action, but above all that we have to stand behind and alongside Marijn and others,” says State Secretary Eric van der Burg, for example.
NPO Radio 1 presenter Lara Billie: “I am ashamed of what you have had to go through and send you lots of love. ❤️”
NOS reporter Thomas Spekschoor: “Incredible. I am ashamed that this has happened within our organization.”
And Volkskrant journalist Menno Pot: “How bad. What a shame that such a culture can exist. So good that you wrote it down.”
Tweet
Marijn’s column and all reactions can be found under the tweet below: