Clover would once be standing with a flag above her head, on her 24th birthday it was time

• Luuk Blijboom

  NOS editor in Munich

It was on July 22, a sultry summer evening in Eugene, America, that Lieke Klaver sought a place in the stands of the Hayward Field athletics stadium. She watched from afar as her Shaunae Miller-Uibo, wrapped in the Bahamas flag, celebrated at the tartan party below after taking her world title in the 400m.

The athlete herself had just finished fourth in the same final, behind Miller-Uibo and opponents from the Dominican Republic and Barbados. “The most beautiful rotten place”, Klaver called that classification.

There, leaning against a wall, the athlete decided on one thing. “I once also stood as a winner with a flag above my head on an athletics track. At least I now know how to celebrate such a gold medal.”

Only 29 days later, on her 24th birthday, she found herself back on the track of the Olympiastadion with a red, white and blue flag over her head. Of course, Klaver also knew, the battle for global gold is not a tournament for European titles. Munich is not the same as Eugene. And an individual lap of honor is different from shared joy after a 4 x 400 meter relay victory.

Nevertheless, Klaver beamed from ear to ear on Saturday evening in her capacity as winner of the European Championship gold. Together with Eveline Saalberg, Lisanne de Witte and finisher Femke Bol she achieved a time of 3.20.87. It earned the quartet a standing ovation from the German public during a lap of honor that seemed to be endless.

Klaver visibly enjoyed himself, but still walked around with mixed feelings. “I’ve had 23 birthdays in my life, but it’s never been this special. I like it when it’s different. This win makes my day. But not my week. Because I have this European Championship didn’t do what I wanted.”

She had not traveled to Bavaria for a fifth place in the 200 meters and a sixth place in the 400 meters. It was the aftermath of the world championships in Eugene, it sounded to clarify. “That’s just no excuse, though.”

Her times in the European Championship finals, 22.88 and 50.56, were not that bad, she said. Certainly not in the knowledge that she had been ill for a week between the World Cup and the European Championship, where she herself does not rule out that she may have been affected by corona.

“After a tournament where I have given everything, that happens to me often. Then it is as if all the efforts of the entire year come out in one fell swoop.” On the individual songs, that preparation wreaked havoc with hitches. “Normally I smash through everything. Now I just couldn’t.”

However, on the penultimate day of the European Championship, she still surpassed herself. As the second runner, Klaver had an essential part in the relay victory by guiding the Netherlands to first place halfway through the race.

And that while not so long ago she still regarded the 400 meters, with or without a flying start, as the annoying big brother of her beloved 200 meters. In her time as a talented junior in the 200 meters, she didn’t even think about throwing herself on the full lap. “If I have to walk that far, I’d rather take the car,” she once said.

But little runners with a mind of their own grow up and at some point reach a level where the will of the trainer is law. It was her coach Bram Peters at the Papendal sports center who, in consultation with Laurent Meuwly, decided a few years ago that she should focus on the 400 meters.

Last month, in Eugene, she saw exactly what her personal trainer Peters saw in her in her new specialty. In the mixed 4 x 400 meter relay, a number that is not run during the European Championship, she finished second together with Tony van Diepen, Liemarvin Bonevacia and Femke Bol.

The Oregon 2022 sequel turned out to be a two-faced tournament for Klaver. She was the first Dutch athlete ever to stand in a World Cup final in the 400 meters, but finished just off the podium with 50.33. In the semi-final battle, she had set the Dutch record at 50.18 the day before.

The 4 x 400 women then turned Oregon into an outright deception. A wrong transfer of the baton resulted in a disqualification. With that, Klaver’s American dream burst like a bubble.

In the past month she also had to watch patiently how her national top time in the 400 meters was improved twice by Bol. That set the standard at 49.44 during the European Championship final.

So the same Bol who raked in the gold for Klaver cum suis with a phenomenal final shot on Saturday evening. A victory with perspective for a quartet that finished sixth during Tokyo 2020.

Life is good in the Netherlands 400-meter land, Klaver also knew. She mainly saw her European Championship in a larger picture, with a slanted eye already beckoning to Paris 2024. By the way, without using the P-word.

“I need a tournament like this to become resilient and stronger as an athlete. If I can finish a World Cup and European Championship in a row in such a short time, that says a lot. Then in the future I can compete in one tournament in one.” give it even more time.”

But enough to worry, she laughed, it was time for a little party. How did she celebrate her birthday and the European title? “With a glass of water. All right?”