A Baby Goddess for Van der Kolk

Van Eupen (l) and Van der Kolk (r) from the Netherlands
© Dominik Keller

Olympic bronze medallist, Kirsten Van der Kolk of the Netherlands has decided not to race at this year’s World Rowing Championships. Instead the lightweight double sculler is focusing on her new baby. Born in July, young Nike (pronounced Neekay) is very aptly named for the Greek Goddess of victory and with two parents who rowed competitively, Nike’s destiny may be predetermined.

Both of Nike’s parents are Olympic medallists. Husband Pepijn Aardewijn won silver at the Atlanta Olympics and also raced in Sydney in the lightweight men’s double.

But the big question hangs over Van der Kolk, ?Do I continue to row??

A week after giving birth Van der Kolk is looking fabulous and nearly back at her lightweight rower weight. ?I have fantasies of coming back,? says Van der Kolk. ?I wanted to row in Gifu because I studied Japanese, but I had an Olympic medal and thought of the hard training.?

?I only want to come back if I can come back at the top. I know how hard it is to do,? says the determined Van der Kolk. ?For the Olympic level I’ve got the technique and I’m strong in the head, I just need the physical side.?

?I’m going to start training bit by bit and see how it goes. I think another Olympics is too much, but maybe the World Rowing Championships.?

While Van der Kolk was pregnant she did, by her standards, not much physically. But she says it felt like a lot. ?I got tired just biking to work and back ? half an hour each way. Sometimes my (physical) limitations were difficult to accept. I had to walk slowly, I couldn’t run.?

?I kept swimming right until the day before I gave birth. When I went swimming I had to do a minimum of one hour as mentally it was still in my head that I needed to do at least that.?

Van der Kolk also continued to row until it was too difficult to get to the catch. ?I rowed until 26 weeks,? she says, before her tummy got too big.

Now Van der Kolk is impatient. ?I have to wait five weeks.? After giving birth Van der Kolk’s doctor has recommended that she wait for her body to settle before she starts doing exercise. ?I think five weeks is a very long time to wait. I want to get back into shape for the feeling,? says Van der Kolk.

Van der Kolk says she doesn’t have any role models to follow as most of the rowers she knows quit the sport when they have a baby.

?I know in other countries there are rowers with kids, but in the Netherlands it is difficult to combine rowing and having a child because you have so little income.?

Support for mothers that row differs from country to country. More than half of the Romanian women’s eight that raced to gold at Athens have children. Elisabeta Lipa, Elena Georgescu, Gerogeta Andrunache, Aurica Barascu and Doina Ignat all have children as well as winners of the lightweight double, Constanta Burcica and Angela Alupei. Camelia Macoviciuc Mihalcea, who raced in the Athens women’s double, has two children.

In contrast, Lianne Nelson, stroke of the United States Athens women’s eight, was not just the only member of her team to have a baby, but she was also the first woman ever to make the US team after having a baby. 

In the women’s single at Athens three of the finalists had children; Ekaterian Karsten of Belarus, Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria and Sonia Waddell of New Zealand. Kathrin Boron of Germany had a child in 2002 and won her fourth Olympic gold medal at Athens.

Van der Kolk says her ability to continue training with Nike on the scene depends on logistics. Coach Josy Verdonkschot is very enthusiastic to see Van der Kolk back rowing. Training at Amsterdam’s Bosbaan rowing course, Verdonkschot is happy to coach with baby Nike joining him on his bike.

FISA’s medical commission member Juergen Steinacker says there is not a lot of research done on elite rowing and pregnancy although there are studies done on pregnancy and sport in general.

?Normally pregnancy is not a problem for rowers,? says Steinacker. ?They can compete up to 4 ? 5 months. The only problem is forward bending as it shouldn’t be done forcefully.? Steinacker, who is also the German rowing team doctor, has seen that often rowers have less complications than average during pregnancy and when giving birth. ?Their muscle development helps. Their abdominal and pelvic muscles make it easier in giving birth.?

Sports research done in the former East Germany on elite athletes and pregnancy, according to Steinacker, is not very useful. ?East Germans had their particular view, so it’s not that useful. A lot of it was anecdotal. There is some data that after pregnancy there has been a performance increase, but it is not known if it’s a hormone or physiological situation.?

Meanwhile Van der Kolk is still deciding. ?I have to see how it goes. My husband is not happy with me continuing, but I want to leave things open.?

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