When neighboring boys rang the doorbell at Henk Kraaijenhof’s house, his mother often sent them away. Hank? No, he’s reading. “In a corner with a book. That’s what my mother always said about me,” says Kraaijenhof in his office in Laren. Upon entering he showed the building. Walls filled to the ceiling with bookcases. Work everywhere about body and mind, psychology, training theory.

“I am an obsessive-compulsive reader,” says Kraaijenhof. “My thoughts and actions are completely focused on new information about performance improvement. I have put much more effort, time and money into self-study than other coaches. It has been the path to success for me.”

Henk Kraaijenhof (68) is a former athletics coach and athlete supervisor – his pupils won piles of prizes. He was the trainer of, among others, Nelli Cooman, the Dutch athlete of Surinamese descent who became world champion twice between 1984 and 1995 and European indoor champion six times. He also coached the Jamaican Merlene Ottey, one of the most successful athletes in history, and guided athletes such as Edgar Davids (football), Mary Pierce (tennis) and Troy Douglas (athletics).

Did you not like to exercise as a child?

“I actually don’t like sports at all, still don’t. I used to have a library card for myself, plus my parents’. Then I could borrow fifteen books instead of seven. I found reading much more interesting than going outside. Sports were cold, wet, tired. I still don’t watch much sport on television. If one of my athletes participates, yes. But I have never understood coaches who lose 2-1 and go home with a grumpy face. In the end it doesn’t matter at all.”

Yet you have always been concerned with going those few tenths faster.

“And and and.”

That doesn’t seem to suit you at all.

“I care about my athletes as people. I still cut off my little finger for a tenth of a second. Or a hundredth of a second. When I have people I work with, I really give it 100 percent. I am still in touch with most of my pupils thirty or forty years after the collaboration. I speak to Nelli Cooman almost every day, and I still train her daughter Ronéll Rosier. Records are broken, medals forgotten. But you shared joys and sorrows together. In Nelli’s case, the impossible was made possible. That’s what coaching is all about for me.”

What were you like as a coach when you started?

“I got into the profession more or less by chance, because I was asked to provide training at an association. I was an athlete myself at the time, and not always satisfied with my own coaching. I was ambitious. But for the first few years I went to the job with clammy hands. I didn’t know for God what to tell them. If I could make them better.”

Clammy hands from the tension?

“People’s expectations that you make them better made me very nervous. But I have learned to deal with that discomfort. Apparently I also compensated for it with enthusiasm, because my athletes quickly became Dutch champions. Apparently I was able to give athletes the feeling that coaching could take them further.”

If you run faster than the rest, some people think it necessary to stick a knife in your back

Nelli Cooman was treated quite hostilely by fellow athletes. How do you explain that?

“I think it had to do with her personality. She was flamboyant, outgoing, very authentic. And she was successful. If you never win, you only have friends. If you run faster than the rest, some people think it necessary to stab a knife in your back.”

Was it also discrimination? She was one of the first black top athletes in the Netherlands.

“I think so. She received a lot of attention, perhaps also because of her background. People found that difficult. Things also happened that I thought were unacceptable. Nelli received doping controls much more often than other athletes. That was not unbiased.”

In a recent broadcast of Andere Tijden Sport, Cooman said that she was very unhappy at that time.

“That was due to the envy of other athletes, but also due to a difficult home situation. A lot came together then.”

Henk Kraaijenhof, during a training session with athlete Ronéll Rosier: “I was apparently able to give athletes the feeling that coaching could take them further.”

That seems difficult to me as a coach, that your athlete feels so bad.

“As a coach you are also a confidant. I’ve tried to make the hours on the running track feel like an escape. Away from home, away from competitors, getting everything you can out of your body. That can also be liberating and provide perspective for the future.”

Cooman says she felt so bad that she thought about suicide. This was also due to the treatment she received from others in the sport. Yet you motivated her to continue in that world. Didn’t you think: you have to get out of here?

“Stopping also seemed like a risk to me. You already feel bad, and suddenly you have no purpose anymore. Athletics also gave her structure, something to get up for every day, to sleep well, to live a healthy life. And luckily Nelli came out okay.”

Is fun important for top athletes?

“Super important. You can get by for a while based on status and money, but if you lose the fun it’s over quickly. That must be in the essence of the sport. The feeling that you have perfect control over your body. That is why it is so important as a coach to radiate pleasure. Coaches who stand on the court like curmudgeons… no one wants to work with them for long. Sports can never be intended as a form of masochism.”

How does a coach ensure fun?

“Getting to know the athlete is essential. That will take at least a year. Before training I always run a lap together, now also with Ronéll. How are you? Are you worried about this week? Is something wrong? Do I need to know anything? You want to know an athlete’s dreams, fears and hang-ups. That is an informal process.”

This is now often formalized. Many trainers and clubs let athletes complete surveys and apps about how they feel.

“That doesn’t yield anything, except socially desirable answers. An athlete must get the feeling: I can trust this guy. I can say everything to this coach.”

How do you create a safe environment? Is that different from forty years ago?

“You have to be a lot more careful. I have pictures of me stretching Nellie. Then I’m almost halfway over her. Nothing strange, but it would be looked at differently now.”

Would you not do it that way again?

“It doesn’t interest me at all, people just think what they want. What matters is that there is a bond of trust between the athlete and me. You are not a lover, you are not a lover, you are a coach – you have to understand that. But you determine the boundary together. If it is not transgressive for the athlete and for me, then it is not. I don’t think the sport is less safe than it was forty years ago, but I do wonder: isn’t the bar for fear too low?”

Do we really want to lay down in covenants and contracts what a coach is and is not allowed to do?

There have been many athletes who have been damaged because coaches ignored physical or mental boundaries.

“Certainly, and that is terrible. The question is: should we turn incidents into a systemic whole? Do we really want to lay down in covenants and contracts what a coach is and is not allowed to do? Then it becomes difficult to build a relationship of trust. And don’t those malicious coaches do it anymore? That is a total denial of human psychology and human history… There are people, mostly men, who have a lack of respect for other people. The only thing you can do is punish more severely when it happens.”

How do you get the best out of an athlete?

“That is my quest, also in all those books. I want information that allows me to do something new, to bring out something new in an athlete. There are a lot of conservative coaches, they all do the exact same thing. That does not help.”

You are known for your innovative way of working. What discoveries have made a difference?

“I am the first to start measuring stress and fatigue. That has made a big difference and completely turned training schedules upside down. I also used nutritional supplements very early on. There are very good products that have nothing to do with doping. My athletes also benefited from this, although it took a long time before others took over.”

You also have the image of a coach who is liberal when it comes to doping.

“Troy Douglas, who I coached, was at one point accused of doping. Nandrolone. Just like Merlene Ottey. That had no relation to reality (Ottey’s suspension was lifted, with Douglas the national association acquitted him, although a suspension by the international association remained, ed.).

“The suspicion also fell on me, but I am not a liberal when it comes to doping. I’m just saying that doping is part of human nature. People always use products that make them feel better. Sleeping pills, alcohol, caffeine… Sports are no different. So it will always continue to happen.”

When athletes do it, it is distortion of competition.

“Doping controls detract greatly from the enjoyment with which people practice their profession. If you assume that people who want to use doping do so anyway, then you could have a discussion about the severity of those controls. It’s about a level playing field. Does that only come in a pill? The fact that some athletes have to train under poor conditions carries much more weight.”

You want some form of control, right?

“So that is the question. Athletes are pricked in the arm every week to look for doping. Despite all the threats of punishment and getting caught, it doesn’t stop. So everyone has to suffer because there are a few who do it. You can call it liberal to raise that issue, but I think it is realistic.”

You call yourself an outsider. Looking back on your career, has it helped you?

“I think so. I have been at the forefront in terms of knowledge, because I have always continued to deepen my knowledge. Knowledge is no guarantee of success, because if you are an insufferable jerk you won’t make it. Ultimately, it’s about who you are, as a coach. Good stuff, technical gadgets, good training schedules, healthy food, it’s all for sale. But your own history, your knowledge, your fears, dreams, wishes, your personality… you carry them with you every day. That’s what you have to hit that athlete with.”

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