Fun & Famous

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT DAFNE SCHIPPERS

Let me offer my apologies in advance to anyone who may be angry or upset about my words. Because who am I to say anything about Dafne Schippers? Absolutely nobody, of course. I can't even tie her shoelaces (if you want to do that, by the way, you first have to run a hundred meters because Dafne has probably angrily thrown them a few streets away) and I was already happy this morning when I ran five kilometers. In a time when Dafne would probably cover a half marathon. So let it be clear: Dafne Schippers is an athlete of unprecedented greatness.

But.

Yes, there is a but. When the Vogue in question slid through the mailbox with Dafne in a golden outfit on the cover, my beloved said the words: “Ouch.” He went on to say that this could be a reason she wouldn't win the Games. Something about pride comes before a fall, something about you shouldn't sell the skin before the bear is shot. I didn't want to hear or know any of it. I love the obvious winners. There are people who are always team ‘underdog’, I am always team ‘they always win’. That's why I was always team Steffi Graf (a tennis player who really won everything for years and years) and for Florence Griffith-Joyner and Pieter van den Hoogenband. It's wonderful when you know what's on the menu and you actually get what you ordered. Three gold medals and a few silver ones to top it off, for example.

So I went along with the Dafne-Schippers-will-drag-in-two-gold-medals-and-treat-us-to-a-unique-Olympic-performance hype. Nice and easy, because all I had to do was watch and cheer. She has worked hard for four years (and longer), has been called out of bed at the most bizarre times for a doping test where a tester stands next to you until you pee to make sure it's your urine. Even when Dafne slept at her boyfriend's for the first night, the doping control was at the door at six in the morning. They can always see exactly where you are via an app. And that's just one of the hardships she has had to endure.

And meanwhile, we just drink wine and so on. I think we have pushed Dafne too much towards a medal. That Vogue cover would have been a better idea after the Games, NOS shouldn't have called the night when Ranomi and Dafne went for gold the Queens' Night, and we shouldn't have labeled Dafne as the obvious winner. We should have waited calmly and not increased that pressure even more. Modesty adorns a person, doesn't it? It's almost inhumane what we have imposed on her as media. Of course, Dafne can also say no to an interview with Vogue and Holland Herald and whatever else, but can the best kid also make a misjudgment? We (and okay, maybe also her manager) should have protected her from that.

So we forgive Dafne for the thrown-away bouquet of flowers (at least she cares) and leave her alone until 2020 so that she can unexpectedly grab two gold medals.

Or uh, should I not say that anymore?