Infernal stomach pains keep Van Klinken from ‘eating scared hares’

• Luuk Blijboum

  NOS publisher in Eugene, Oregon

Achieving the best performance of your young career on the highest podium while suffering excruciatingly. “It’s as if your organs were removed from your body.” The discus thrower Jorinde van Klinken had imagined her debut at the World Championships in Athletics. But this? No.

The fact that the World Cup debutant finally ended a suffering afternoon with fourth place could be called less than a miracle. Of course, she had secretly hoped to have gone further than those 64.97 meters, especially with a throw initially declared invalid.

Of course, she would have preferred not to have to confess as much about the Chinese Feng Bin, the surprising gold medalist with 69.12 meters. “But becoming world number four at 22 is really weird.”

The performance at Hayward Field Stadium was the almost inevitable conclusion to a month of Murphy’s Law. Van Klinken has racked up setback after setback in recent weeks. “In fact, so many things went wrong that it didn’t really matter to me how that final went.”

Van Klinken, a student in the United States, learned for the first time that she had to give up her place at Arizona State University. Although she’s having fun in Tempe, a move is in the works. Coach Brian Blutreich, a former discus thrower who finished 25th at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, recently announced his departure.

And so Van Klinken moves with him. “There’s no doubt about it,” the global management student said resolutely. “He took me to such a high level that I don’t want to work with anyone else.”

Initially, the coach and student were to leave for Tennessee, but that change became uncertain earlier this week. Randolph Ross, the son of the Tennessee track and field head coach, recently failed a doping test, jeopardizing the senior position.

“That could also be added,” sighs Van Klinken. Because last month, it looked like Van Klinken would be considered an illegal alien in the United States. After finishing her studies, she might not be able to renew her student visa in time due to bureaucratic hassles.

“No matter how many emails I sent, it always went wrong. I spent the maximum number of sixty days to get everything in order. In the end, everything worked out on the last day. But you want two weeks there for a World Cup don’t worry, of course.”

It was during the same period that she suffered a thigh injury that unfolded after several throws during qualifying and the final battle. With fourth place in her pocket, she was finally able to laugh at what she experienced. “Every day has been a surprise for me.”

Meanwhile, Van Klinken is quickly making a name for himself in the world’s top discus thrower. After crossing the pond in January 2021 to try her luck in the United States, she threw the one-kilogram discus nine meters further in six months.

At 1.81 meters long and 1.83 wingspan, she lacks the “chimpanzee arms” needed to compete at the highest level. Van Klinken changed from the classic block throw to the more modern jump throw at Blutreich’s request, where she does an extra pirouette when the disc leaves the hand.

This resulted in a Dutch record of 70.22 meters in May 2021. Until 2016 it was in the name of Ria Stalman, whose throw of 71.22 was removed from the books by the Athletics Union after Stalman’s doping admissions.

In a sport where the top ten of the eternal ranking is entirely occupied by athletes from the former Eastern bloc (with the world record of 76.80 meters in the name of GDR thrower Gabriele Reinsch as a dubious relic doping past), Van Klinken has speed, explosiveness and athleticism.

Her reputation as an open-minded and successful youngster has now accelerated her, as she noticed before the final in Eugene. “I saw these other girls staring at me like scared bunnies.” She called it illustrative of her little world. Where athletes from other divisions often treat each other amicably, this is not the case in his discipline.

“It’s all hate and envy. No one is happy with another’s performance. They’d rather eat each other.”

Presumably, she said, her competitors’ behavior stems solely from uncertainty. “Otherwise, you’re not afraid of an opponent, are you?”

Van Klinken himself will continue to distance himself from such idiosyncrasies, it was firmly stated. If the sport is finally rid of doping issues, that’s what you get, she meant. ” I don’t understand. You don’t have to blame an opponent who is better, do you?