By Marcel Beijer
THE Dutch windsurfing star Sara Wennekes will compete in the Paris Olympics this summer. It is the story of a courageous and combative woman who turned her nightmare into a beautiful Olympic dream – via Paris this year to Los Angeles in 2028.
Her sports life collapsed when Sara was told in 2019 that she was not good enough for the absolute best. She was expelled from the national selection and with it, the subsidy tap was also turned off. “Not only did my Olympic dream fall apart,” Sara says, “but I started doubting myself. I didn’t want to allow that feeling.”
At that very time, it was decided that Olympic windsurfing would change from standing on a board on the water to windfoiling, which, as it were, lifts the board from the water.
A drastic decision
“I decided to fight for my Olympic dream. But I had to pay for everything myself going forward.” Sara made a drastic decision. She traded her home for a van with which she traveled from competition to competition across Europe, despite the scorn of the outside world. “People said I would never make it to the Games anyway. But that very thing lit a fire in me.”
Sara thinks in retrospect that doomsday in 2019 was actually a blessing in disguise. She reinvented herself. She learned to stand up for herself, be creative with money and deal with the pressure of having to perform. And she achieved success. By 2022, she could again afford a trainer and facilities. That is, if she shared the cost with other athletes. And she did. In early February, her dream became a reality: she qualified for the Olympics.
An example
She hopes to be an example for young athletes with her story, although the dream is not finished yet. “Making it to the Games is already great,” Sara says. “But the opportunity to win an Olympic medal is even more beautiful. And it’s there, it can be done. I really belong in the world’s top now.”
And if it so happens that she doesn’t strike gold in France, then there’s always Los Angeles, four years from now.
Marcel Beijer is a journalist in Almere and winner of the Dutch News Magazine Journalism Prize 2023.
* Foto: Studio Buen
