“You can’t keep a good man down”, goes the saying and it’s a phrase that sits perfectly on Ernst van Dyk’s broad shoulders.
After winning gold in the hand-cycling H5 category at the Rio Olympics nine years ago, Van Dyk hung up his handlebars saying he was done. “I wanted to focus on my career and ensure a future for my wife and two daughters.”
A long-time employee of multinational orthopaedics company Össur, Van Dyk, now 52, put all his energy into the business side of his life.
“Being an athlete, you’re far behind when you cross to the working side of life,” he said this week, “but I worked my way up in the three years after Rio and went from someone who didn’t really know what I wanted or needed to do, to become national sales manager in SA and in 2021 was promoted to MD for Southern Africa.”
But during the Covid-19 pandemic he missed the competitive aspect of sport and with long-time coach Ricky Kulsen of Paarl attempted and succeeded in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
“Coming from an SA winter we had little chance to acclimatise to the extreme heat and humidity and I had a dreadful Paralympics.”
So he took another break from the sport but it wasn’t long before another break — this time a favourable one — came his way.
At end-2023 and the early part of last year, Van Dyk was offered a great promotion to run Össur’s southern Europe operations, which cover France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece.
And one feels absolutely safe; never once have I felt even remotely threatened while training, like I often felt in SA. It brought such calm and peace within me.
— Ernst van Dyk
That meant he’d be based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. “At that stage I was 51, my wife Suzanne was late 40s, we were happy in the new house we’d just built in Paarl … and it was a huge decision.”
In the end it was a family-based decision that saw him accept the European offer. “Besides a great growth opportunity for me it was the chance to do something for our two girls, Lexi and Sunel, in terms of experiencing different cultures and lifestyles, not to mention maybe at some point being able to secure a second passport for them.”
It wasn’t easy though, Van Dyk describing the relocation as “a helluva process”, with the moving of the family’s two golden retriever dogs and Maine Coon cat almost more work than the humans involved.
He left a SA winter, arrived in the Netherlands on October 1 to start a Dutch winter and the family followed in December.
The lack of sporting activity and stress of the total relocation deal had a weighty effect on Van Dyk. “My racing weight in Rio was 78kg, in February I was on the wrong end of the scale at 94kg.”
It was time to hit the road again. “Everything looked very cycling-friendly and I quickly discovered that the network of cycling paths is incredible — so many people cycle here.
“And one feels absolutely safe; never once have I felt even remotely threatened while training, like I often felt in SA. It brought such calm and peace within me.”
The competitive spark was soon firing and he found a criterium-style race in Rotterdam after six to eight weeks of training.
The awakening was rude. “The current world champ in my category lapped me three times and I said to myself, ‘no ways am I getting lapped three times in an hour’.”
Thankfully, the northern hemisphere summer saw him being able to work a full day and then still get in a three-hour ride before sunset.
Focus turned to making this year’s UCI para-cycling world champs, which were taking place in Ronse, Belgium, just two hours from Van Dyk’s new home. “For a change my family would be able to come and watch.
There aren’t age groups so I have to manage my expectations around that, but I can’t train without being competitive — even when some cyclist comes past me on a €20,000 bike, I just can’t help myself chasing it.
“So we worked through Cycling SA to try to make the team. I went on a 13 hour road trip with Lexi to the French champs and my results there were good enough to make world championships.”
He went to worlds, he raced — finishing sixth in the time trial (55 sec off the podium) and eighth in the road race.
All of that from ground zero to six months of training.
“I’m feeling so good on the bike, but most important of all, so sane. I’ve lost 15kg already, probably another two to go.”
Most importantly, the spark within has grown to a steadily burning flame.
“The road racecourse was more suited to climbers. I’ve already checked out the course for world champs in the US next year which is flat and more to my liking.”
SA’s eight-time Paralympian and 10-time world championships competitor is in a happy place on and off the bike.
“I’m thinking that as long as my health is good I’ll carry on racing. There aren’t age groups so I have to manage my expectations around that, but I can’t train without being competitive — even when some cyclist comes past me on a €20,000 bike, I just can’t help myself chasing it,” he chuckles.
He puts it down simply to the way his psyche is wired after three decades of competition.
Winter is coming to Europe again but Van Dyk is ready. “I’m getting my indoor studio set up, planning on doing more weightlifting. The older you get, [the more] you struggle with muscle mass.”
His next goal is the World Cup in Belgium in May 2026 where making the podium is the goal.
A ninth Paralympics? Yes/no/maybe?
“I’m not talking Paralympics right now, just taking it season by season with no external pressure.”
A great attitude but regarding Van Dyk, once that spark is lit, wherever in the world that is, the South African’s opponents need to sit up and take notice.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.