Mathieu van der Poel was on another floor with girlfriend, Moerenhout received a late message

Mathieu van der Poel would initially be in a room with Jan Maas in the hotel of the Dutch World Cup team. National coach Koos Moerenhout indicated this in an interview with the NOS. Van der Poel was allocated a different room earlier this week and slept there last night with his girlfriend. That’s where it went wrong, because after he reacted to nuisance from other hotel guests, MVDP arrested.

Moerenhout confirms that the leader of the Dutch team was with his girlfriend Roxanne somewhere else in the hotel in Sydney. The national coach does not think that the KNWU should have ensured that someone was next to or near Van der Poel. “That way you can rationalize everything. But that will go away now,” says Moerenhout.

“The choice was… He arrived in Australia and had a cold. He was supposed to be in Jan Maas’s room first, but he had a cold and we decided not to. He got another room, coincidentally on a different floor. That can happen. If that’s the fault, we’ll get away with it.”

The national coach only heard about the incident after it had already happened. “The damage was already done. Then he came up with it. Otherwise we will arrange something”, says Moerenhout. “He sent me a message when it happened, then you’re in a situation you don’t want to be in.”

‘You’re not making this up’
Shouldn’t Van der Poel have contacted people from the KNWU sooner about the disturbing children on his floor? “You could conclude that. I can’t say much more about it than what has already been said. It’s a whole situation, which sucks for him. Apart from the question of guilt, he has worked very hard to be here. You are not making this up. That sucks.”

Van der Poel says he called the girls to order in his hallway, but they declare that they were pushed by him. The police were then called and Van der Poel was arrested for a short time. Despite the little night’s sleep, he did start at the World Cup, but got off early. His passport has been confiscated and he has to answer for himself on Tuesday. This is what we all know about Mathieu van der Poel’s arrest.