Tes Schouten To Reunite With Coach Mark Faber As She Relocates To Antwerp
Olympic bronze medallist Tes Schouten is to relocate to Antwerp, Belgium, where she will reunite with former coach Mark Faber with whom she previously worked for eight years.
The Netherlands swimmer was third in the 200m breaststroke at Paris 2024 behind Kate Douglass and Tatjana Smith which followed gold in a Dutch record of 2:19.81 and silver over 100m behind Tang Qianting at the Doha World Championships.
However, in September last year she began to experience nerve pain on the left side of her face which lasted for two to three weeks before she was hospitalised for 11 days in November with nerve pain, loss of power and function on the entire left side of her body.
In April Schouten announced she wouldn’t be competing at the World Championships that start a week on Sunday in Singapore.
Schouten revealed on Tuesday that she’d be moving to Antwerp in the European autumn to work with Faber who was appointed Belgium head coach in November 2024. Training mates will include Roos Vanotterdijk, who won a medal of each colour at last year’s European Championships, and Florine Gaspard, who set the 24.42 Belgian 50 free record in April.
She posted to social media, saying: “I am very excited to announce that i’ll move to Antwerp this fall to continue training with my coach Mark Faber again. After having worked together for the 8 years, I know this is the best decision for me as an athlete and as a person. Im feeling confident and happy with this ‘new’ but familiar start in Belgium 🇧🇪🏊♀️
“Health is doing better, but there’s still many challenges ahead of me. Im buzzing with excitement to start my swimming career again after a tough year. Let’s see what the future holds 😋☺️🧡
#TeamNL #swimming #olympics”
The 24-year-old trained under Faber in Amsterdam alongside double Olympic silver medallist Arno Kamminga, Caspar Corbeau – 200 breast bronze medallist in Paris – and Kenzo Simons, four-time world short-course medallist.
Kamminga announced in May that he was moving to Hong Kong where he would be coached by Tom Rushton. The four-time world medallist paid tribute to Faber, saying: “It saddens me that I couldn’t continue my journey in the Netherlands with Mark. We’ve achieved so much together, and that connection will always mean a lot to me. But at the same time, I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to train and live in Hong Kong.”
He added: “I truly believe this is the best option for me right now. To find the stability, support, and clarity I need to swim at my best again.”
