This former top athlete lives as a hermit in Ireland without a telephone: ‘It keeps a lot of stress and nonsense away from you’ | These sports stories are not to be missed

Hardly any contact with the outside world, no telephone and until recently no watch. 60-year-old Erik de Bruin, who has won no fewer than 38 national titles and silver at the World Cup as a shot putter and discus thrower, lives in Ireland the way he had in mind all along.