Inge de Bruijn mourns first swimming coach: ‘You saw it in me’ | Stars

entertainment">“Hello Dear Jef, my very first swimming coach”, she writes with photos where her former coach is sitting in her garden. “Seeing this photo 4 weeks ago, I can’t believe you’re gone now. How happy you were that day with my sister in the garden. Enjoying the birds, sheep, chickens, nature there.”

entertainment">Between the photos is also an old photo of the coach during a swim training. “I remember well that after the first swimming practice, when I was 7 years old, you said to mom: ‘Well, your daughter is a talent’. To which mommy said to me: ‘Oh dear, that’s what they say to everyone’. But you were right, you saw it in me.”

entertainment">The four-time Olympic champion says that she partly owes her swimming career to him. “Your passion for swimming started and has always remained. With you I got my very first gold medal in the club championships. The start of everything that followed. I am very grateful to you Jeff. And will miss you terribly.”

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