“In top sport it’s about points of percentages. And you’d be crazy for that if you didn’t use certain techniques. And certainly if they are as simple and non-invasive as just spitting into a tube and sending it to a lab.”
To win a medal at the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. That is the goal of Govert Viergever, Olympic rower of the Holland Vier. We interviewed Govert via Skype while he was at a training camp in Seville. He is one of the top-level athletes who does everything to become even better and therefore took aDNA test. He is sure that this will help him achieve his goal.
Govert has turned his hobby into his job. He started rowing in 2005 at the Amsterdam student rowing club Nereus. Last year in Rio de Janeiro he finished fifth with the Holland Vier at the Summer Olympics.
It is small for a rower. “That means I have to get my strength elsewhere.” Because he has to deliver the same power as “such a big guy”, he has done a DNA test. “This is to see where the opportunities lie and what I can improve upon.”
‘You know your own body after 27 years and top sport pretty good. And yet there are some things that were new to me. And also very useful to know. Because if you know perfectly what your strengths or shortcomings are, you can better act on them instead of having such a vague idea of: I think I’m going to sour rather quickly. Now I actually have that in writing and in my training I can ennutrition adjust things.’*
