Sharon van Rouwendaal On The Champion Mindset As She Contemplates Future Plans
Such was the unwavering power of Sharon van Rouwendaal’s self-belief that winning was the only option at Paris 2024.
The Dutchwoman emerged victorious from the River Seine to become the first swimmer to twice win marathon gold in Olympic waters, eight years after lifting the crown at Rio 2016. With silver at Tokyo 2021, she also became the first athlete to claim three medals.
It was the culmination of building layer upon layer of self-belief and drawing a deep-seated confidence from the hours she’d put into training and from telling herself she’s the best.
Sharon van Rouwendaal: Photo courtesy: Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
It’s the champion mindset that has guided Van Rouwendaal to the top of the Olympic pinnacle and into the record books.
She told Swimming World: “I never had a psychologist helping me, I grew mentally strong by just doing it and showing people wrong, people who treat you badly you just want to prove and prove all over again until you have that huge self-confidence that you are just going to do it.
“Twenty-eight days before the race in Paris, I knew there was only one option – only one option and that’s to win. So, you give yourself that option.
“I think people like Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky, those people have that self-confidence. I think I have it too. Of course, you have it when you’re born and it can only get a little bit stronger but also people who are sensible they can get that mental mindset, that champion mindset, as well but it just takes a team around them to get that.”
Van Rouwendaal would ask coach Bernd Berkhahn for bigger and harder sets and would tell herself no other swimmer could execute such a punishing, heavy programme.
“So, I would do 110k (a week) in January and I would post about it and three weeks later I was double world champion in Doha,” she says. “I got a lot of confidence from the sessions and also just telling myself that I’m one of the best or I’m the best and I’m going to do it.
“Now I give presentations about mental strength and why is it that I have a medal in 200 backstroke in 2:07 when I was only 17 in Shanghai in 2011? Why is it that I have a 400 free time of 4:03 behind Katie Ledecky in Kazan (2015 worlds) or 1:52 short course with a world record in the 4×2 at Doha 2014?
“Then swimming 10k with a heartrate that is 220 and an average of above 200 and with the lactate I can get up to 20 or 22 – that’s not a 10k swimmer so it’s all mental.
“I mentally want it in the backstroke, I mentally want it in the 400 free, I mentally want it in the 10k although my body says hey, hello. My average is 200 but now we also tested that I could hold on really, really long for a high heartrate so it’s all mental.
“So that is my strength: the strength is the mental part and then it’s the heartrate, it’s the swimming technique, all around it, the confidence.
“Everyone is a little bit insecure on the start line: but then what are you telling yourself in the race? And I am talking to myself and convincing myself that I can do it.”
Savouring Best Friend Johnson’s Singapore Double & What The Future Holds
Van Rouwendaal bypassed this year’s World Championships, meaning a new champion would be crowned in both the 5 and 10k events following her victories at the Doha worlds in February 2024.
Moesha Johnson: Photo Courtesy: World Aquatics
Instead, she has been travelling the world giving coaching clinics and went to Singapore as a World Aquatics ambassador.
There she watched as friend and Magdeburg training partner Moesha Johnson won the 5/10k double in soaring water temperatures, a year after the Australian finished second behind Van Rouwendaal in Paris.
“Moesha’s my best friend,” said Van Rouwendaal. “I took her in the year before the Olympics. We were one and two in Paris, the best possible result for two friends. I said if I can take a step down, you’re the one that needs to show them that you’re the best and you make the statement and crush them all
“I supported her all the way and I already said in interviews before that she was going to win it, I had no doubt about it and she really did it. So, for her to do it was very special and when I saw her win I cried and we held each other. For me to see that was really fulfilling.”
When Van Rouwendaal announced her intention to miss her world title defence back in February, she also spoke of contemplating her competitive future.
Singapore was a chance to measure whether she missed the sport and she reiterated her plan to make an announcement on her future in September. That is, whether she restarts with LA2028 the target or retires.
“I thought, hmm let’s see if I really miss the swimming because Paris was the most beautiful race of my life in terms of the way I swam it, how strong I was, the current, the place.
“I think after that I needed a break to think about what I did or what I’m going to do and I’m doing a lot of coaching and clinics around the world to make people better.
“When they dived in, I missed it a bit and then of course when there’s the ceremony you think wow this is the most beautiful thing you can have.
“But then there’s all these sacrifices: if you count the medals in 18 years, it’s not only gold, but there’s also a lot of disappointment. At the end I think it was just pleasurable to not stress or vomit or have that stress feeling during a competition and just watch it from behind the scenes which was really cool.”
While enjoying her Singapore experience, it didn’t bring a decision regarding her future any closer.
“I really enjoy doing clinics right now and being with my family. I left my family when I was 13 to go to train in other countries – in France and Germany – and now I’m 31 we live in the same street and we can have a coffee every day.
“If I would stop it’s because of those family moments that you can’t have but I’m still deciding.”
