A relaxed, open, but alert and direct Nina Derwael in ‘Het Huis’. Not for nothing that she first falls asleep in the old-timer VW van after another very hard training. But Goens promises to pamper her for 24 hours and he does. Although he traditionally puts his finger on sore spots a few times. The very spot is undoubtedly all the fuss about mental abuse of the gym coaches. “It hit me very hard when Marjorie and Yves were discredited. The focus was only on the report of the Commission of Inquiry in connection with mental abuse. While we, who were training in the hall at the time, suddenly became the victim,” says Nina fiercely. “We were in the straight line towards the Games, along with many of those girls who were now attacking the trainers. I understand that if they felt that way, it was their right to express it. But it could have happened in a completely different way, so that we could have worked towards the Games at ease.”
When Goens makes it clear that Aagje Vanwalleghem, Nina’s great example, was also in that group, Nina perseveres strongly. “We got the feeling that they were not granting us the success that they themselves had not achieved by eliminating the trainers. I’m still angry. And always will be. What pisses me off the most is that they said things they knew nothing about. Talking about their own experiences, no problem for me, but don’t say anything about something you don’t know anything about. None of the gymnasts who claimed certain things still happened have been in the gym in the last five years. Hasn’t had any contact with any of us for the last two or three years. If they had thought even a little, they must have known that their action would hit us just as hard, maybe harder, than the coaches did at the time. Did Marjorie and I have a shouting argument? Sure! Have there been times when I’ve walked out of the room crying? Sure! In hindsight that’s the way it worked for me and I’m where I am now. And for which I am very grateful to them.”