NOS
NOS Sport•vandaag, 06:27
She broke her hands and her toe, shattered her tibia and fibula twice, and her cruciate ligament and meniscus are gone. Cartilage has also been removed and she has osteoarthritis in her lower back. And she still had doubts for a long time.
But in the end, motocrosser Nancy van de Ven’s conclusion was that she had to stop, at the age of 25, with a heavy heart: “This is my passion and my life.”
If you have to stop doing what you love most, it is difficult, says Van de Ven. “I have nothing else in my life like this. My life revolves around this. What do I do now?”
Saying goodbye to motocross hurts Van de Ven: ‘My passion and my life’
She already answers that last question herself. She has already thrown herself into new things with conviction, for example she has accepted a job at motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha. Due to her busy work, she hopes not to fall into a black hole.
Although she knows that quitting is the wisest choice, the decision hurts. “I’ve won everything there is to win. So actually I’ve finished it. But being carried off the track and that’s it, that’s a miserable end to your career.”
Perseverance
She doesn’t want to return to compete for places five to ten. And to really return to top level will be an enormous task and also entails risks, because of the osteoarthritis in her back. “You only have one body. I never thought that way, but now I realize that there is life after cycling.”
Perseverance has always brought her far. She overcame all previous injuries and after finishing second in the WMX World Championship five times, she finally became world champion last year.
2022: Van de Ven becomes the first Dutch woman to take the WMX world title
She ends her career as reigning champion. But now it doesn’t work anymore.
“This is the most difficult decision I have ever had to make. When it was not yet public, I thought every day: is this the best decision? I think it is.”
2023-11-07 05:27:45
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