Monique van der Vorst let go by Rabobank

[TheEnoculator]

There will be more stories to come out from this for sure. Whether she faked or not, she will have a lot of explaining to do.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rabobank-release-miracle-athlete-monique-van-der-vorst

 

[Another_Dutch_Guy]

Yes, very strange story. At the moment it was published she would ride for the Woman's team I already couldn't believe that a girl that couldn't use her legs for years could become a pro cyclist.

Off course as handbiker she had a good condition, but all your muscles are gone.

But still, I believe her. Why would you fake you cannot walk?

 

[Azabael]

Yes, very strange story. At the moment it was published she would ride for the Woman's team I already couldn't believe that a girl that couldn't use her legs for years could become a pro cyclist.

Off course as handbiker she had a good condition, but all your muscles are gone.

But still, I believe her. Why would you fake you cannot walk?

Some people go far if they want something. But look at her legs. To me that just seems impossibly muscled for her.

 

[theyoungest]

Some people go far if they want something. But look at her legs. To me that just seems impossibly muscled for her.

Be that as it may, currently she's in a wheelchair again.

Supposedly she had a "conversion disorder", losing physical capabilities due to psychological strain. She still was a legitimate paralympian.

 

[TheEnoculator]

I had my doubts when the story first came out, but I didn't have any reason not to believe it, so I rooted for her and I was real happy for her that she got a contract with Rabo.

But with this new twist, I'm thinking, how improbable can it be to be paralyzed for 13 years, then riding for a pro team within a year of regaining movements? I've had my legs my whole life and I couldn't even ride for an amateur race team. Something is not right.

 

[TheEnoculator]

Be that as it may, currently she's in a wheelchair again.

Supposedly she had a "conversion disorder", losing physical capabilities due to psychological strain. She still was a legitimate paralympian.

I guess we will leave that to the good folks at IPC to decide that. She was spotted walking in November 2009, and she claimed she lost movements in both legs for 13 years. This is smelling fishy to me.

 

[theyoungest]

I guess we will leave that to the good folks at IPC to decide that. She was spotted walking in November 2009, and she claimed she lost movements in both legs for 13 years. This is smelling fishy to me.

This is not my own judgment, I know nothing about paralympic criteria. The responsible authorities say she was.

You should take "riding for a pro team" with a grain of salt... she hadn't done a single race for them, she could barely follow them on easy training rides.

 

[l.Harm]

In a Dutch paper I read she said her paralysis was because of psychological factors....

 

[arthurvandelay]

Truly a bizarre story. I did some quick google searches around the topic, and unfortunately found that fraud is not unknown in the Paralympian setting. Some of it is simply stretching the rules a little bit, but some is much more overt. I believe that the latter is the case with this lady. It beggars belief that a bicycle accident can cure paraysis.....

Perhaps she has become so emotionally invested in this "miracle" that it is now her own self image that she has becoem this mythical figure....

 

[Aapjes]

IPC is doing an investigation:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/1...igating-Van-der-Vorsts-claimed-paralysis.aspx

 

[theyoungest]

IPC is doing an investigation:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/1...igating-Van-der-Vorsts-claimed-paralysis.aspx

Ah. In today's newspaper I read that some kind of committee had already investigated this. Oh well, what was I thinking, of course these organisations all work separately

 

[El Pistolero]

How pathetic if the accusations prove to be true.

 

[martyfulu]

Its great she can walk.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kinda like Cartman in the special olympics

 

[El Pistolero]

Kinda like Cartman in the special olympics

I was thinking the exact same.

 

[jens_attacks]

this might be the lowest trolling i've ever heard...

 

[Aapjes]

Its great she can walk.

She's in a wheelchair again, partially because of all the stress:

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2698...-van-der-Vorst-zit-weer-in-een-rolstoel.dhtml
(in Dutch)

It seems she dug a big hole for herself, by not being honest when her doctors found the real cause. Probably because she was afraid of her para medals/career. The accident might just have been an excuse or it might have really improved her condition and she decided that to go for the medical miracle story. However, since it's medically impossible for a severe spinal injury to heal like this and people talked about how she was walking a bit before the 'healing' accident, the truth had to come out.

Rather sad, really. It's a bit like Ricco, when people hurt themselves so badly, you stop being angry at a certain point and it's just painful to watch.

 

[Aapjes]

Ah. In today's newspaper I read that some kind of committee had already investigated this.

She was classified in 2002 and 2006. It seems that they already quickly looked into the files on that and declared them ok. Probably a 'cover our ***' and/or 'protect our doctor' situation.

I suspect the new/real/indepth investigation is mostly about the time after 2006, where the desired outcome of the investigation is for her to have been told by her doctor that she didn't have a spinal cord injury after 2006, so then they can strip her medals and/or ban her, without having to admit to have made an error themselves.

 

[The_Z_man]

IPC is doing an investigation:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/1...igating-Van-der-Vorsts-claimed-paralysis.aspx

Interesting quote from that article:
Then she had the accident in 2010, then she was able to walk again; after that she confessed on Dutch TV a while ago that she was always able to walk.

 

[Azabael]

But then again. Must one be completely unable to walk to be allowed to compete? Because if for instance she's not able to walk on moments that she suffers from a lot of stress, she's likely to not be able to use her legs at any important match or moment in the race. So unless we wanna see her ride down a mountain, back first, suddenly, she probably wouldn't be able to compete in normal races. That's what it's about in the end. I haven't read deeply into it yet, though. But if however she has appeared to have faked it merely to pull off a Cartman, she loses everyone's trust in an instant.

 

[ElChingon]

Its Miracle 2.0!

Should be moved to clinic for proper comments to be added.

 

[TheEnoculator]

Basically her argument was that she didn't fully understand her own condition to begin with, so she couldn't word it any better. Well, boo-hoo, she should have been honest about not fully understanding in the first place. I wouldn't have minded if she could walk for moments, she should have been honest about it. The way she told her story in the past didn't indicate any confusion or misunderstanding from her part. She was clear that she couldn't walk at all since 13 or 14.

Now she's "caught". And she has to justify. It shouldn't be anybody's business about her paralysis, but she made it public. As someone mentioned in this thread, she dug a big hole from herself.