Thijs Zonneveld, journalist of the AD, has obtained footage of the incident on Saturday evening through the sister of the teenage girls who harassed Mathieu van der Poel. He describes this in detail in a reconstruction of the incident.
‘And then there appeared to be images. Three videos. One short and indistinct, the other longer and revealing. They clarify much of what happened last Saturday night in the hallway of the Novotel. This site had contact with the eldest of the three teenage girls and viewed the images they had made themselves’, writes Zonneveld on the website of the AD. Incidentally, these images are not shared publicly, as they are minors. They are from another part of Australia and were on holiday in Sydney.
‘It takes thirteen seconds in total. The video was sent by someone who claims to be the older sister of the 12-year-old girl who knocked on the door. She has approached several people on social media, including journalists, with detailed descriptions and allegations,” he said. “In addition to the thirteen-second video, which contains a lot of indistinct flashes and ends rather abruptly, she sends longer video footage of the fight that follows the beating and the chase. There is more to see and hear. There is no doubt that it concerns the altercation that took place on the ninth floor of the Novotel in Brighton-les-Sands last Saturday night. The quarrel that cost Mathieu van der Poel the world championship.’
Read more below the photo.
Van der Poel ran after girls in their room
‘The video shows that it is not the first time that they knock on Van der Poel’s room; he opens the door almost immediately. The chase lasts no more than seven seconds. When the girl runs into her room, Van der Poel sprints after it. On landing after his jump over the bed, he seems to touch her briefly. But it is not a targeted blow or push. The clip ends at a strange and abrupt moment. He can just be seen standing up after the jump, away from the girl. The sister says she doesn’t know exactly why the film ends there.’
There is also footage of an altercation between Van der Poel and the three girls. ‘You can hear Van der Poel saying to the girls: this is a game for you, but I have an important game tomorrow. He also tells the parents that it is not the first time that the girls have knocked on the door: that afternoon and earlier in the evening they also did it. He gets a lot of swear words in response.’ Then follows the accusation that he dealt a blow, after which the following discussion unfolds, according to Zonneveld.
Van der Poel tells the parents that he has not touched anyone, to which a female voice responds with: ‘Shut up, it’s on camera’. Van der Poel responds by saying that they should show it, the woman responds again by saying that she is not allowed to come into her room. The Dutchman then states that they are not allowed to knock on his room for three hours, after which the woman states that he has threatened them and that the police are on their way.
According to Zonneveld, the girls and the parents are ‘mainly angry’ at Van der Poel. They think he got off too easily with a fine, after they also showed the footage to the police. The management of Van der Poel has also seen the images, but does not wish to respond at the moment, Zonneveld writes on behalf of the AD.
Tags: Teenage girls incident Van der Poel camera Dutchman ran hotel room
