Last week, on the 11th of February 2009, I finally got a verdict in my civil case against the Dutch Canoe Federation. The judge agreed with me that the Slalom Committee does not have the authority to discipline athletes and exclude them from races. The federation's Disciplinary Committee is responsible for this. Since the Slalom Committee did not have the authority to remove me from the team, the judge has annulled their decision.
It is a good verdict for athletes, as it gives them security when they are on the team. In my case, it turned out that the national coach, Michael Seibert, and not the Slalom Committee as I had been lead to believe (see below), had personally written to the organisers of the European Championships to have my entry removed. It is now clear that such actions are against the statutes of the federation and should never occur again.
The judge has awarded me approximately €14,000 for the funding I missed. We still wait to see what actions the federation will take against those responsible.
The full verdict is here (in Dutch).
On the 21st of June 2007, one day before departure for the world cup series, I received an email from the Dutch slalom committee informing me that, with immediate effect, I was being removed from the Dutch team. The reason given is that they claim I refuse to communicate in English with the coach, Michael Seibert.
The truth is that I have never refused to communicate in English. However, two and a half years ago in January 2005, the canoe club VKC Waalre had indicated at the annual meeting that athletes were having difficulties communicating with Michael Seibert in German. It was agreed Michael Seibert would learn Dutch. Having now been the Dutch coach for six and a half years, he still has made no effort to learn Dutch and still insists that Dutch athletes speak German to him.
A few weeks earlier, the slalom committee did not enter me for the European Championships, entering a junior in my place. The slalom committee then waited till four days after the deadline for entries before informing me. I proved that their claim that I was ignoring the program was untrue. However, it was not until it embarrassingly transpired that they had falsely claimed the Dutch Olympic chief supported their decision that they backtracked and allowed me to race.
I am not the first athlete to fall foul of the slalom committee’s underhand tactics. After disappointing results in 2005, the slalom committee decided to set tougher selection rules for over 26 year olds, in an attempt to exclude certain athletes from the team. The canoe federation’s disciplinary committee has now ruled that these tougher rules are in fact age discrimination and thus illegal. My clubmate, Jasper Fonteijn, is currently fighting to be allowed to race the World Cup in Augsburg and the World Championships in Brazil. Even though he qualified fair and square according to the selection rules, which a ruling of the disciplinary committee has since confirmed, the slalom committee is choosing to ignore the ruling and is entering a junior in his place.
In a recent newspaper article, the topsport coordinator, Cor van Weert, is cited as saying that I have only reached the semi-final once in the last one and a half years in international competitions. In fact, I have done so 4 times including a 16th place at last years World Championships. It is also claimed that, at the last minute, I refused to race at the Pre-Worlds in Brazil, because the federation would not pay a personal rental car and for me to stay in a separate hotel from the rest of the team, which Cor van Weert alleges I demanded. None of these claims are true. The truth is that the federation refused to cover any expenses (flight, accommodation etc.) whatsoever for my trip. It was agreed over five weeks before the Pre-Worlds that I would not be racing. This is hardly “last minute”. Compare this to the slalom committee telling me the day before departure to the World Cups series that I’d been dropped from the team and waiting till four days after the deadline for entries before informing me I had not been entered for the Europeans.