To many people, cancer is simply a nightmare. But to Dutch swimmer Maarten van der Weijden, cancer is also something leading him to the secret of life glory.
Standing on the dock with 24 swimmers, the tall slender Dutchman looked quite unsporty. But two hours later, he demonstrated incredible power by sprinting over other swimmers in the last 100-meter to finish first in a grueling 10-kilometer race.
"I've struggled so much in life, so to have this victory ... is awesome," said van der Weijde, still with gentle tone and tender smile.
Staring swimming at seven, van der Weijde was already known as a promising swimming talent in the Netherlands at the age of 19. From 1998 to 2000, he retained national titles in 1,500-meter freestyle 5-km open water.
His career came to a sudden halt in 2001 when he was diagnosed with leukemia. In 2003, he made a comeback, starting competing in the open water races in the World Champions, where he gradually re-solidified his place among the world's best.
In the 2008 Championships, as the only male swimmer swimming all the open water races, he first placed 4th in the 10-km and secured himself a trip to Beijing, then he took bronze in the 5-km before winning the 25-km.
Explaining what the disease has left to him, van der Weijden said his fight against the disease made him who he is today.
"Leukemia taught me to think step by step and to be patient. When you are lying in the hospital bed feeling so much pain and feeling so tired, you don't want to think about next month, next week, only thinking about the next hour," he said.
"Just be patient and lying in your bed just, (and) wait. I think that's almost the same strategy I used here. Just stay in the pack and to be patient and stay easy and waiting for your chance," he said.
The gold medalist said he felt quite stressful in the last three months before the Olympics. "Because this is the Olympics. I knew I had the chance to win, which made me quite stressful. But then I think I don't need to be stressful and I need to stay relaxed," he said.
"Both ways are fine. If I win it's fine. If I don't win it's fine as well. It's almost the same attitude I had in my disease. If I make it, it would be fantastic. If I wouldn't be able to make it, then I would be not happy of course, but I would relax the body," he said.
Van der Weijde's story reminded many people of the seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. But van der Weijde doesn't like the comparison much despite having huge respect at the same time.
"I'm no Lance Armstrong," he once said. "Armstrong says that positive thinking and doing a lot of sports can save you. I don't agree. I even think it's dangerous. Because it implies that if you're not a positive thinker all the time, you lose."
"Because of the stem cell transplant I had the luck to recover. So everyone who has donated money (to cancer research) in the past I am grateful for, otherwise maybe I wouldn't be here otherwise," the gold medalist said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)