‘Father can’t handle the tension’

• Anne van Eijk

  editor NOS Sport

They study together, have the same friends, play sports together and are brothers. Twin brothers, even. Marcel and Tyrone Sterkenburg depend on each other day in, day out. “That also makes it difficult, sometimes. We are always on each other’s lips, but we do have a good bond.”

The wrestling brothers, who only have each other as training partners in the Netherlands, dream of becoming the first Dutch male wrestlers at the Games since George Torchinava in 2000. To realize that dream in Paris, they have one more chance: the Olympic qualifying tournament that starts tomorrow will be held in Istanbul, Turkey until May 12.

The Olympic dream has not been with 23-year-old Marcel and Tyrone from an early age. In fact, it was more or less by chance that they came into contact with the sport of wrestling.

“We come from a martial arts family, our father Willem was a high-level boxer,” says Marcel, who has two brothers in addition to Tyrone. “So all four of us were into boxing and we were all super fanatical.”

When the brothers were seven years old, they started competing, but their father preferred not to. “He knew that boxing could cause brain damage, so he suggested we look at another sport.”

It is actually a moving form of meditation.

During a romp at the boxing club, Marcel and Tyrone were now nine years old, former wrestler Ben Stelte came up to them. “He said to my father: what they do is very similar to wrestling, why don’t they participate sometime? The trainer thought we had talent and two months later we were allowed to wrestle our first match.”

Marcel and Tyrone were quickly sold. “I actually had very different expectations for the sport,” said Marcel, who thought Olympic wrestling was the same as the WWE wrestling shows. “But you learn to defend yourself without sustaining damage like boxing. It is a very safe sport.”

Tyrone: “When I stand on the mat, I can completely clear my head. It’s actually a moving form of meditation.”

Father Willem Sterkenburg is “super committed” to his two talented wrestling sons, but he had one condition. “He didn’t want us to be in the same weight category. That was fratricide, he thought.”

“And Tyrone has always been more of a glutton, so it was not a difficult choice to put him in a higher weight category,” laughs Marcel, who competes in the category up to 87 kilograms. Tyrone is in the category up to 97 kilograms.

Our father never goes to tournaments. He can’t handle the tension, so he follows it online. But he couldn’t sleep the days before.

Not only are the two in different weight categories, their wrestling styles are also different. “Actually, our personality reflects our wrestling. Tyrone is a calmer person and that shows. He is very tactical, gives almost nothing away.”

Marcel: “I am much more impulsive. For me it is always very extreme. Either I win very big, or I really don’t wrestle well. I have to find more balance in that.”

Although there are few facilities and training partners in the Netherlands, the two are now being seriously taken into account in the wrestling world.

“Opponents used to say: if we draw against the Dutch, it is a kind of free passage to the next round. Then you would have a very easy game. But now they are not so keen on drawing us.”

The brothers are therefore very confident in obtaining a ticket to Paris. “We are really at a high level in wrestling. And the best are already qualified, so we have a good chance.”

But while Marcel and Tyrone struggle for their last chance to travel to the Paris Olympics, their father is at home. “He never goes to tournaments. He can’t handle the tension, so he follows it online. But he can’t sleep the days before.”

A Dutch wrestler at the Games would already be special, but Marcel is looking even further. “A medal would be even more special.”