Finally...at last!
Accidental luck...
After that last terrible accident it finally became clear why the hormonal
state
of Gert-Jan Theunisse was significantly out of order at times: he suffers
from osteoprotosis
(Shouldn't this be 'osteoporosis'? I'll try to find out soon.)
Nothing doping - there you are!
An excerpt taken from the article 'Life and suffering of Gert-Jan' by
Henk Ruigrok in Nieuwe Revu nr. 7, February 1999:
He only got real trouble with his heart when he had
quitted as a professional cycle racer. He collapsed like a house without
cement. Thanks to all the medical examinations he had to undergo thereupon,
they looked, he says, straight through his bones. And that way the truth
around his reputed drug-taking was revealed: osteoprotosis, a disordered
hormonal state. All the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fell into the right
place. At last it was confirmed what he always had known: it was his own
body that produced so many hormones.
"Because of the dysfunction of my thyroid, a breakdown
product was disengaged. This breakdown product got identified in my urine as
testosterone. This was concluded years earlier in all those reports which
had cost me a fortune. At the UCI (international cycle association, c10a)
they simply chucked away these results. That is what I found more
difficult to cope with than when they accused me of doping. I wanted to
start legal proceedings against the cycle union, but they were very
concerned about a future claim of several millions of guilders. With a
deft manoeuvre the UCI shut the door and made it impossible for me to take
legal action. Whether this doping-issue will haunt me forever? I don't like
to talk about it anymore. Joop Zoetemelk (a famous Dutch former rider, c10a)
remained the hero, but he has been found positive to doping tests exactly as
many times as me. Thank God, my health-problem has proved that I have never
taken doping; that my body was the cause of all trouble. I now know for
myself that I was right and I don't bother anymore about all the rest!"
(they can walk to h*** with their accusations, c10a)
Still unbelievable that the media didn't snap on this one; rehabilitation
in silence...
(Could you please let me know, when you've heard about
this in other media reports? Thanks!)
Added August 2006:
Being the author of this fansite, it should be allowed for me to make a little sidenote to the topic: a reflection on Floyd Landis’ positive test in the Tour de France 2006.
Gert-Jan Theunisse himself has given a reaction to this new testosterone story as well. Of course it is published in Dutch media and not yet completely translated to english. Therefore for now just one quick quote: "Whenever somebody does me injustice, I will fight back. Even if the situation seems hopeless, I will not give up. That is what Landis, when convinced of being right, shouldn't either."
"Ich wünsch Dir noch ein Leben, doch Du hast nur eine
Chance"
(I wish you one more life, but you have only one chance -
taken from the album "Seiltänzertraum" by PUR)
Even after his career as an active cycle racer, the body of Gert-Jan is
still not allowed rest and time to recover.
First that terrible accident and more recently, in June '99, he got due to
hard work and overburdening a heart attack, which he - thank heavens
- survived! In Nevegal (Italy), where his mountainbike team had come to
participate in a World Cup race, he one morning woke up with pain in his
chest. He decided to get up for a walk and breath some fresh air... one hour
later an Italian peasant found him laying unconciously beside the road. In
hospital they told him his temperature was measured 41.6 °C (approx. 106.5
Fahrenheit) and that the value of his haematocrit (sp?? - thickness of the
blood) was 52; a life-threatening situation. Whereas other people would take
a long pause to recover, Gert-Jan was back working again after one week(!)
of rest. He promised, however, to take it easier as soon as possible.
Quite frightening though... the thought that my encounter with him in
Plymouth, on the 16th of May, could have been 'just in time'...
Gert-Jan, if you're not doing it for yourself, please think about Lieske and
your other relatives and for goodness sake don't take such risks anymore!
* Climbed to great heights; -->
* Cycled through deep valleys;
* Honoured, reviled, forgotten;
* Fallen a thousand times...
* ...and gotten up again!
Back to index
© 2006 Christina
