Athletics Union Fails According to Former High Jumper Wielart

This article was last updated on August 22, 2023

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The State of Dutch High Jump

When asked to explain the current state of the Dutch high jump, Ruud Wielart sometimes jokingly refers to De Beste Zangers. The television program in which more or less well-known artists display their vocal skills.

It might be a bit bland and exaggerated. the now 69-year-old Haarlemmer is the first to acknowledge it. “But are they really the best singers in our country? No, of course not! Not even by a long shot. Countless young people at the Dutch conservatories study who sing insanely much better.”

That’s how it is with the national high jump, says Wielart with a sense of exaggeration. It hardly surprises him that the early elimination of Douwe Amels means that the final will be completed on Tuesday evening at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest without Dutch input.

Former High Jumper Ruud Wielart

In the 1970s, Wielart was a phenomenon in the Dutch high jump, known for his high-blond spit lock and high-cut shorts.

The seventeen-time national champion was not sent to the Montreal Olympics in 1976, because then chef de mission Bram Leeuwenhoek expected that he would not be able to handle the pressure in Canada. Four years later, he also missed the Moscow Games due to a knee injury.

With an average height of 1.83 meters for men and 1.69 meters for women, the Netherlands may then statistically produce the tallest people in the world. a dwarf nation.

At the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Amels seemed to prove the opposite at the beginning of this year with his golden jump of 2.31 meters. For the men, it was the first prize in an international title tournament since Wielart’s bronze at the 1977 European Championships in San Sebastian.

Among the women, Britt Weerman caused a sensation in 2022 by finishing fourth in Munich at the outdoor European Championships, before adding a beautiful silver medal at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul at the beginning of this year. Those successes were not followed up in Budapest in advance, because the former gymnast had to cancel the global title tournament with a knee injury.

The Stagnation of High Jump

Wielart, himself just over two meters tall, looks at it with dismay. His discipline has stagnated in recent decades. He cannot draw any other conclusion. In 1979, the Haarlemmer jumped outdoor over a height of 2.28 meters. Exactly the same height that Amels can present as a personal record 44 years later.

“In the Netherlands, all conditions are present to be able to produce many high jumpers. Well, minus the approach of the Athletics Union. It fails to sell success. At the moment the performance is at an insanely high level. Only the union is remarkably little presented.”

“Well, they see it when an athlete is head and shoulders above something. Then it is a matter of offering them a place in the candy store. The athlete of course tacks. The trainers then stay behind and are not supported in any way by the Athletics Union.”

“The laws of monkey rock apply to the Athletics Union. We are at the top, we do it our way and the rest just watch it.”

The Loneliness of High Jump

High jump has been, since time immemorial, a sport of loners. And according to Wielart, it will remain so for the time being. “Good things are being done in Groningen and Zoetermeer. But the Athletics Union does not even bother to see what is happening there. They do not support it, they do not facilitate it. That is an essential mistake.”

“All those supposedly good trainers from the Athletics Union should just go into the country. The union should roll out an interested policy. Look at developments and stimulate them. The high jump in the Netherlands is zero. It has always been that way and will remain so for the time being.”

The 20-year-old Weerman and 31-year-old Amels are the exceptions that confirm this rule. Wielart: “The contribution of the Athletics Union to those successes is peanuts. What do they say again? If you feed them peanuts, you get monkeys…”

In Wielart’s view, the union has reached a T-junction. “The question is: will you continue like this as an Athletics Union or will you have money to invest in the high jump for four or five years? And then I’m not talking about the main prize, am I?” Wielart already knows the answer. “That will not happen, because the policy of the Athletics Union is based on quick success. Grab, I got you. That works…”

He only has to look around at competitions to know how the hares are running, he says. “When you see how the policymakers of the national team present themselves there, you immediately see that it is an isolated group within Dutch athletics. For the Athletics Union, it is all about Papendal.”

The Need for New Policy

“And that while high jump is terribly sexy. Jumping over a height of more than two meters, that is crazy. Yet we are not interested in it. Because we know far too little about it in the Netherlands.”

With Amels and Weerman rattling at the door of the world top, it is high time for new policy, according to Wielart. “As far as I am concerned, it is fine that all the money that the Athletics Union has to spend goes to Papendal. As an association, you only have the obligation that every top athlete who does not fall under this also receives the best facilities. And there are those in the no high jump.”

Perhaps there is another reason why Amels, more than four decades later, still does not jump higher than Wielart in his best years, he says with a laugh: “Maybe gravity has increased over the years. Who knows?”

Athletics Union Responds

Vincent Kortbeek, technical director of the Athletics Union, does not recognize himself in the criticism of former high jumper Ruud Wielart on the policy of the athletics union.

“It is the objective of the Athletics Union to create the right conditions for all disciplines to achieve top performances. But since we have a limited budget at our disposal, we are forced to set priorities. What applies to the high jump, according to Ruud Wielart, This also applies to, for example, speed walking, javelin throwing and triple jumping.”

“The Athletics Union is busy making policy for the next Olympic cycle. We want to develop Dutch athletics across the board with a view to Los Angeles 2028. The high jump is also included in those plans.”

“If we had had mountains of gold, we would do our utmost to achieve a connection with the world top in the high jump. But we don’t have that and for that reason we have to make careful choices wher e we invest our available money.”