1/2 Shanne Braspennincx (photo: ANP).
Track cyclist Shanne Braspennincx (32) from Strijbeek did not make her decision to stop immediately on a whim. She said this on Thursday, just after she suddenly ended her career. And while the Olympic Games in Paris start in a few months. “The timing may be strange to outsiders, but I have been thinking about this for a long time,” says the Olympic champion.
Continuously going on, without time for reflection. This is how the cyclist describes her sports career. In 2021, she won Olympic gold on the keirin during the Tokyo Games in 2021. “I was completely satisfied after that gold medal,” she reflects in the TV program Brabant Today. “But I had to move on quickly. I had a lot to do in my private life and in my sporting life. I didn’t want to make important decisions in that hectic environment,” says Braspennincx.
She only had time to reflect after the Track Cycling World Championships in Glasgow in August 2023. The idea of quitting then slowly presented itself. “I have won what I want to win. I have won many great titles and medals. That gold medal was the crowning glory of my career, it is number one,” she says.
“This decision gives me peace.”
Braspennincx took her time to make this decision, she emphasizes. “I’ve talked about it a lot with other people and I’ve consulted myself. I’ve asked myself the question again and again: ‘What do I think about it now?’ I think I made a good choice. gives me peace of mind to say that I’m quitting five months before the Games.”
“The rehabilitation process was not a straight line up.”
The cyclist says that her career was not a bed of roses. She suffered a heart attack in 2015 during a training camp in the United States. A recovery process followed. But complications arose. A stent closed. “The rehabilitation process was not a straight line up. It went from left to right and from bottom to top. I had to get to know my own body again and gain confidence in it. It took more than two years before I dared to give my all again. during competitions and training.”
She doesn’t know yet what the cyclist will do next. “I don’t have anything planned, but I’ll let it happen. I will continue to exercise, because sports is a virus. But I will do so without a jersey number.”
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