He is the most successful skater and Olympian in the Netherlands. Became world all-round champion 9 times, won 21 titles at the World Distance Championships and won 9 Olympic medals, including 4 gold. Now 36 years old, Sven Kramer has put an end to his active sports career and now also strives for the highest things outside the track. In a conversation with Jaap de Groot, the Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau, who was appointed in March, discusses his new challenges and ambitions in detail.
Your sports career is over. After a fantastic farewell in Thialf, we are four months further. To what extent have you closed the chapter and opened the new one?
“I am now busy with my future, and I also have a responsibility towards my body. As an endurance athlete I just have to train well. My heart is super big and I can't just ignore it, otherwise it will become crazy. Fortunately, training is not a sacrifice for me. You will do me a great favor with a bike ride of two hundred kilometers. However, I now have to find a good balance at home. After all the travel and training camps, I'm there more often, but luckily the process goes fairly smoothly. So far, distancing myself from the pressure of always having to do something has been going well for me.”
So the black hole will pass you by?
“I sometimes hear crazy stories about top athletes who have quit. I'm not the type for that because I've always been naturally comfortable with the uncomfortable. I view what others dread as a challenge. Moreover, I am in the luxurious position that, in addition to my sporting successes, I have not done badly in the rest. I am not exactly the example of the gold winner who then has to figure it out for himself.”
It really strikes me how far you are in the next phase of your life. Does that also have to do with your last season, when you had to recognize at an early stage that your ambitions had to be limited?
“I have always been super focused on my sport. I already took a risk before the last season by having my back operated on a year before the Games. Although it didn't bring what I hoped for on the ice, afterwards I'm so happy that I made that decision. Especially now! But to be honest, I would have liked a better Games from a sporting perspective. On the other hand, with my placement through the Olympic qualifying tournament, I have shown something that people recognize in me. When it had to be done in Thialf, it worked. As incredibly hard as that was, but it worked. But now the answer to your question: I have not only developed outside the court over the past year, I have always been interested in other things.”
Can you go into that in more detail?
“It was not without reason that I joined the project with Jac Orie and Robert van der Wallen in 2014. Cycling was added later. I have always been part of the discussions. So it's not like I'm entering a completely different world as a rookie.”
Your contract with Jumbo-Visma states that after your career you will be given a director's position at Team Oranje BV, which includes all professional skaters and cyclists. When I looked at the data of Team Oranje at the Chamber of Commerce, it turned out to contain the names of Richard Plugge (director) and Merijn Zeeman (sporting director), but not yours.
“The discussions are still ongoing and I hope to reach an agreement soon. In any case, it would be nice if I could get started quickly.”
It's not that difficult, is it? I assume there is talk of using your top-down approach. So start at the top of the pyramid and you will immediately be in your power.
“I'm the first to admit that I don't know everything. Nobody has that. What matters most is that I add value with my experience. That is not about directing and managing 150 employees, but about top sport and much that coincides with it. Such as the commercial process.”
I have already indicated that you are already far in that development. Especially when it comes to the business side. In the meantime, professional sports in the Netherlands are eager for better management quality. The top players at various sports associations are searching, because their association is lagging behind international developments. There is a huge wasteland for someone like you.
“First of all, I am of course busy with Team Oranje. Let's see how we can raise the level even further and what steps should be taken towards the future. At the moment, top sport is a moving train, moving 365 days a year. And before the red carpet is rolled out, it's anything but glitz and glamour. This awareness is insufficient among many associations, which in turn hinders the development of top talents and the support of top athletes. We want to prevent that at Team Oranje. In the meantime, I do not rule out that Team Oranje will also embrace other sports in the future.”
MASTERS MAGAZINE
Want to read the entire interview? In the summer edition of MASTERS an interview with Sven Kramer, a driving impression of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport and a study into the Effect of Max. But above all, it features people who bring light to the darkness. Such as Henk Jan Beltman, who took over Tony's Chocolonely because with a company you can make the world a more beautiful place. Chef Emile van der Staak, who has the ambition to change our food culture and therefore cooks with plants and vegetables that he obtains from the food forest. Designer Nienke Hoogvliet, who has introduced natural seaweed paint as an alternative to harmful textile paint. And Anna Nooshin, who criticizes the current social media culture of pretty pictures. In her documentary she also shares the less beautiful aspects of her life. All people who ask questions, hold up mirrors, take steps. Steps towards a healthier world and more understanding society.
MASTERS #50
