Rower Annelies Bredael called home to say that they should not expect any results.
In 1990, two years before I won silver at the Olympic Games, I was missing from the selection for the world championships. That news hit me hard: I thought about ending my sports career. But after the summer the disappointment was consumed. The desire to row returned. The story felt unfinished and I still enjoyed doing it, so why stop?
In those years you could describe me as a sub-topper. Someone who finishes between seventh and twelve in international competitions. I was still teaching at the time. On a Friday in May 1991, I rushed to Duisburg after school for a World Cup race later that evening. Making it to the final was a stunt. Still, I called home to tell them not to expect any results. To this day I remember the disbelief when I crossed the finish line first. I beat the medalists of the last World Cup, for which I was not selected. That couldn’t be possible, could it? But I finished on the podium again at the next World Cup, and again at the next.
Why the turnaround? It helped that I had taken some distance. I realized again why I like rowing. A new East German coach also came, who made me train differently. With the fall of the Wall, the Eastern Bloc problem in sports gradually ended. For some reason, those athletes couldn’t be beat. I won’t comment on how that happened, but I have suspicions. (laughs)
Nowadays, if you ask young athletes what they want to achieve, they spontaneously answer: ‘An Olympic medal!’ But I never thought I was capable of that. I wanted to do my best, that’s all. It didn’t even occur to me that I was eligible for the prizes. Suddenly I had to make the click: oops, I’m a winner. I had a hard time with that. Those journalists with their difficult questions, while I had never given an interview before… Although it is doubly so, because I also enjoyed the attention. Who doesn’t like it when the outside world tells you that you are doing well?
Jef Van Baelen asks top athletes about their best sports memories.
The post Goosebumps moment for rower Annelies Bredael: ‘Suddenly I had to make the click: oops, I’m a winner’ appeared first on Knack.
