WINDSURF MAGAZINE 69DEDICATION
When I was thirteen years old we were sitting in the living room with my
brother and my dad and we were talking about goals for windsurfing. I said,
‘OK I want to go to the 2012 Olympic Games and I want to win a gold
medal!’ Instead of laughing at his 13 year old son, my dad said, ‘Ok, let us
write down a plan and step by step make sure you have the opportunity to
reach your goals’. From there on we planned what it takes to achieve a gold
medal and went for it. It did not feel like I was sacrificing anything, I just
enjoy windsurfing so much that every step felt great.
I did a lot of blocks of training on mountain bikes, cardio training, air
rowing and all those methods to help us pump the sails in no wind. The
main training for me was the quality hours on the water with the RS:X.
Those hours are golden. You have to put the time in and that for me is
what paid off. The rule I heard is that you need to do over 10,000 hours
to be successful at anything and I think I am well over that! We usually
sail between 2-4 hours, but we make sure that that time on the water is
well spent.
My first Gold was in Weymouth 2012 at the London Olympics. It was
very satisfying when I won. I am not the type of guy who goes crazy when
he wins. I was just in the boat with my coach after I won the last race that
ensured victory. I just had this real satisfaction from within. I gave my coach
a big hug and we just said, ‘Ok this is it, we did it!’ That was six or seven years
of full dedication that had paid off. It was super important to have a coach
like Aaron McIntosh, he is the perfect person to keep me in check, making
sure I don’t spin out and keep my cool, so my coach helped a lot!
I was lucky enough to be the athlete selected to hold the Olympic flag
for the Dutch team at the opening ceremony. Normally the most decorated
Olympian is the chosen one to do this, so this was a big ‘no no’. I was
selected to inspire a new generation of athletes and they thought I was the
guy to do it. So there was this little kid from Texel who nobody knew about
and coming from a small sport like windsurfing it was very exciting. Being
able to finish it off with a gold medal was the icing on the cake. Coming
home I made quite a bit of news.