In the shadows after gold at the Games: “People don’t recognize us on the street”

I still think about the Olympics every day.
“Disagree. I don’t dwell on it too long. Last week I happened to think about it. But just like the team, I am busy with the rest of my life. I have been applying for a job a lot and then I sometimes think not rowing for a whole day and therefore not at the Games.”

Life after a gold medal is (totally) different.
“If you leave it out completely maybe… You now have a lot of confirmation from friends and family. They may not have fully understood what you did it for, but when you get such a reward it has all been worth it “After the Games and the ceremony, it has actually remained quiet. We didn’t get together much for media things and advertisements. People don’t suddenly recognize us on the street. I was recognized in the supermarket the day after we came back, but not really.”

We deserved more attention for our performance.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s something selfish what you do in terms of sport. You don’t have to get all the attention for that. We were nominated for Sports Team of the Year. I thought we had a good chance against the track cyclists and the hockey ladies and I would have liked it, unfortunately we didn’t get it.”

Text continues below the photo.

The gold medal is the greatest sacrifice I have ever made.
“Certainly! I invested twelve years of my life in it. Of course, it was never certain that it would succeed. So it is an incredible goal and absurd that I have achieved it. I am still amazed that everything is in place has come.”

In retrospect, winning a gold medal is more beautiful than at the moment.
“The moment itself was a great release. It’s something you can look back on for years. There was so much pressure, everything went wrong in the preparation, it was postponed in the wrong way and we had to race in a typhoon , we got through a pike. So the release afterwards was enormous. It was a shame that there was no one there to celebrate with. But the relief that everything had turned out okay, was really nice at the moment .”

Our gold medal has been underexposed.
“I think we had the redeeming word. Pieter van den Hoogenband was put to the test. Then we were the first to relieve him of all the difficult questions, because it took quite a while until medals were won. The fear We knew it would be the worst Games ever, but luckily we were able to match the success.”

Text continues under the video.

After the gold medal, the challenge is missing in the rowing.
“Well, there’s still plenty of challenge I think. I just find it hard to imagine doing it again. I’m really in doubt. I’ve now decided for myself to try it until September. The training is going start again in the new year. The challenge is getting fit next to my work.”

Work is now number one for me instead of rowing.
“Recently I’ve focused full-time on applying for a job in order to build a social career in addition to my rowing career. I’m going to work as an application builder, IT specialist for 20 hours a week. And for the rest I go in for sports. is now a hobby and I was able to put it aside for a while when I was applying for a job. I’ll pick it up again. So lately, work has been number one for a while.”

Text continues below the tweet.

It’s hard to imagine playing doubles in another man rowing.
“Towards Paris 2024 a lot will change. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in a different boat and so probably not be in the same boat with the same guys. The new batch is ready to fill every spot.”

If we stop, we’ll do it together at the same time.
“We could do that, but then you draw the decision too much to the group instead of the individual. Nobody has said it will stop yet. Everyone is busy with internship, study, internships and I now with work.”

Life without rowing is difficult for set.
“I think I could exercise in a lot of ways. I think that without rowing I might have a healthier relationship with top sport. If you train so much in the week, it has a deteriorating effect. It’s hard for you whole system. If I were to go swimming, cycling, running I think it would give me less of the urge to perform at a high level.”