Olympic Medallist Tes Schouten To Miss 2025 World Championships As She Recovers From Health Issues
Olympic 200m breaststroke bronze medallist Tes Schouten won’t compete at the World Championships in Singapore as she continues her recovery from health issues that saw her hospitalised with “nerve pain, loss of power and function on the entire left side of her body” in November last year.
The Netherlands swimmer was third over four lengths at Paris 2024 behind the USA’s Kate Douglass and Tatjana Smith of South Africa. That followed gold in a Dutch record of 2:19.81 and silver over 100m behind Tang Qianting at the Doha World Championships.
However, she began to experience nerve pain on the left side of her face in September which lasted for two to three weeks before her symptoms returned in November when she was hospitalised for 11 days.
The three-time world medallist is still experiencing extreme fatigue and pain on a daily basis and has started on a recovery plan in the last few weeks.
On Tuesday she announced on social media that she won’t travel to Singapore for the worlds where the pool programme runs from 27 July to 3 August.
Schouten said: “Since last September, I have been struggling with my health. It started with nerve pain on the left side of my face, which subsided after 2-3 weeks. In November, these symptoms returned, but it became so unbearable that I was admitted to the hospital. In the end, I spent 11 days in the hospital due to nerve pain, loss of power and function on the entire left side of my body. I am still not back to my old self and experience daily issues in the form of extreme fatigue and pain.
“As a result, I will not be participating in the World Championships in Singapore this summer. This situation makes me very sad because I would have loved to be there this summer to do what I enjoy most: competing in swimming, traveling, striving for victory, making memories, and hugging my wonderful friends from all over the world again.
“It’s strange to realize that I won Olympic bronze in Paris on August 2nd, when my body was at its strongest to achieve a top performance, and just a month later, I was struggling with immense pain, which reached its lowest point in November. Mentally, this is not always easy either. As an elite athlete, I have always been used to being fit, training hard every day, and being able to handle everything. Pushing my body until there was nothing left. Now it feels like my body is letting me down, while my mind still wants to push forward.
“A few weeks ago, I started a recovery plan to help my body readjust to stimuli and exertion without becoming fatigued or experiencing pain. How long this recovery process will take remains to be seen. But I believe that I will soon be the old Tes again, standing on the starting block with great joy, a big smile, and a healthy body. First, it’s time for what’s most important: recovery. 
#TeamNL #recovery 
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