A long-drawn ribbon
- multicoloured -
moves through the landscape
of Limburg.
My eyes are searching
for your body -
lean as always,
for your hair -
dancing in the wind.
I don't need to
and I will never need to again...
Because you have
stepped down for good.
My heart is crying,
colours are fading.
I miss you!
(June 1995)
~*~*~*~
It would become quiet around Gert-Jan. I only realized that when I was
watching the television broadcasts of that National Championship in 1995.
In the previous years I had come to know him - though at distance - pretty
well. The media reported in detail about everything: his youth, his fortunes,
his doubts, even medical data (for anybody else the latter would be
information falling under the secrecy of privacy regulation) were discussed
in public. Sometimes I thought "it is none of my business" but still I
wanted to learn more about him, and the media did their utmost to inform us.
After the termination of his career as a cycle professional, the interest
would decrease at a rapid rate. Something I was happy about for him,
I would miss it, however: never again see his face on television, hear his
voice on the radio, read his name in the newspapers.
The little book
he wrote together with cycle reporter Jeroen Wielaert, meant some comfort
in the grief about his leave.
The 'Thank-You' photo I received after Gert-Jan decided to quit doing what
he could do best and loved the most: the cycle sport.
Thank goodness I was proved to be wrong; Gert-Jan did not disappear from the
news. For this reason you shouldn't forget to take a look at
this link as well.
Euphoria and praise
Negative sounds
Apart from jubilant voices over the many great cycling moments Gert-Jan offered the spectators, also the echo of "doping" will never really silence. Fair enough, it wasn't like nothing serious had happened: after all up to three times the testing lead to a positive result and eventually to a tiring juridical struggle and suspension for a year.
It is my intention to write an extensive chapter on this - and of course it will be published on the site.
Until then just a few bits from the 1988 Tour de France, when for the first time it was established that the ratio testosteron/epitestosteron of Gert-Jan was out of order. Again with thanks to youtube:
Sceptic words
Eventough Gert-Jan eventually was cleared regards his alleged doping, his name would remain forever smeared with a doubt of performance enhancing drugs use and testosteron in particular. Once again media are all to eager to draw the link to him now that in the Tour de France of 2006 a new case of a possible deviation in testosteron/epitestosteron has emerged. I.e. a positive test result for the ratio t/e. By the way: the testosteron-level was not too high, but the epitestosteron too low! Remarkable that the majority continues to speak of administering extra testosteron.
Anyway, all Dutch media are busy refering to Gert-Jan�s story, with a slight difference that finally they add the piece of information that he is ultimately said to have had a plausible excuse for the distorted ratio after all. (See also link "Cycled through deep valleys..." below.)
I myself noticed some similarities between Gert-Jan's case and the 2006 scandal other than the positive test result. Out of frustration over injustice being repeated, I wrote a commentary about the new doping case.
Below you see a photo of all the things I have collected in the course of
time. When you click on it you will enter my 'little shrine'... a list of
all sorts of Theunisse-goodies.
