Dutch golden girls Keizer and Meppelink say goodbye to competitive sport
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Dutch Beach Volleyball superstars Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink have announced their retirement from professional sport. The two-time European champions – in 2018 as a team and previously in their respective careers with Marleen van Iersel (Keizer in 2012 and Meppelink two years later) – claimed countless prizes. Both Keizer and Meppelink have been leading figures in European and world Beach Volleyball for more than a decade.
Sanne Keizer"The European Championship gold in 2018 was the most beautiful moment for me. My kids were at the final and that was a dream. I was able to show them what it can bring if you follow your heart, and what I had done it all for. That was a very special moment.”
Keizer and Meppelink teamed up in November of 2017 shortly after Keizer had come out of retirement. They crowned their first full season together with EuroBeachVolley gold on home sand in The Hague. That year, they finished on the podium at World Tour stops held in Mersin, Turkey and Vienna as well. Even though their partnership was still quite young, they quickly established themselves as a major force to reckon with and achieved further World Tour podiums in 2019, doing so in Ostrava and Chetumal, Mexico.
Madelein Meppelink"With Sanne, we won the European title in The Hague in our first year together, somewhat unexpectedly. That was a real highlight. Since 2013, I almost have always been in the top 10 in the world rankings, even with different partners. I certainly look back on this with pride."
They qualified for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics where they lost all three of their pool matches at the tiebreak – including a very close fight with eventual gold medal winners Alix Klineman and April Ross of USA. Their last tournament together came in October of 2021 at the World Tour Finals in Cagliari, Italy.
Sanne Keizer: “I am extremely proud of my top sports career, which has lasted twenty years. It has been great, and now it is time to pay even more attention to my family and set new goals. The decision to stop has not been an easy one for me, because I realise that this time it is final and I still feel great. When I look back on the last few years with Madelein, the second chapter of my top sport life, I mainly think about the cooperation process we went through. I enjoyed the whole process and I always worked with Madelein and our staff very pleasantly and with mutual respect. I will really miss the life in the structure that we had built as a team. The European Championship gold in 2018 was the most beautiful moment for me. My kids were at the final and that was a dream. I was able to show them what it can bring if you follow your heart, and what I had done it all for. That was a very special moment.”
Madelein Meppelink: “I have decided that it is really finished, and I think I can look back on a lot of beautiful things. After the 2008 Olympics, I started training full-time with Beach Volleyball Team Netherlands and I have experienced many highlights since then. In 2012, Sophie van Gestel and I qualified for the London Olympics via the World Cup in Moscow. Together with Michelle Stiekema and Rimke Braakman we represented the Netherlands, and that was a unique moment. The London Olympics themselves were also very impressive to experience. With Sanne, we won the European title in The Hague in our first year together, somewhat unexpectedly. That was a real highlight. Since 2013, I almost have always been in the top 10 in the world rankings, even with different partners. I certainly look back on this with pride. Now it is time to focus on all the beautiful things outside of top sport. I will complete my master’s degree in Management at Erasmus University, and I will also continue to work for the sport through my role as chair of the FIVB Athletes’ Commission and as a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the Dutch National Olympic Committee.”
