Photography: Noah Valentyn
Styling & MUAH: Sjoerd Willemsen
Interview: Paul Hofman
Representing Amsterdam, he was there in Washington DC when the Netherlands was awarded the Gay Games. With the award, the city and Jip van Leeuwen made history.
Twenty years later, the then director of Sport of Amsterdam Jip van Leeuwen (75) is one of the ambassadors of Pride Amsterdam. Over the past decades, this sportsman at heart has seen many changes in sport. But have we reached our goal of full acceptance? "No, we are far from it," he says.
From his home, he has a beautiful view of Amsterdam's city centre. Enthusiastically, the sports icon talks about his life, the Gay Games and the upcoming Pride Amsterdam. Being asked to be one of the faces of the Pride took him quite by surprise. "Do you know I was stunned? Because of my health, I hesitated for a while but my husband firmly told me to say yes unconditionally."
With great pleasure, he looks back on that period when Amsterdam was for a moment the centre of gay Holland. From the centre spot in a packed Arena, the then mayor Patijn addressed the stadium filled with 'pink' athletes. In addition to the performance of the successful Weather Girls, his speech made a deep impression on Jip. Thanks to the cooperation of almost all sports associations, the Games became a resounding success. Jip van Leeuwen received a royal honour for it.
This year, 'heroes' are the theme of Pride. When we ask him who his heroes are, he doesn't hesitate for a moment. "Those are two men: John Blankenstein and my Martin. As an openly pink referee in professional football and activist, John has meant a lot in the fight for the acceptance of homosexuality within top sport." In this area, Van Leeuwen says much has changed although he admits that "we are far from there". He notes that the subject is still fraught: you can forget about a top career within a club, he says softly. "But it is simply proven that once you come out of the closet, you perform better." During his own sporting career as a top handball player, Van Leeuwen was anxiously in the closet.
Another hero who is everything to him is his husband Martin. "Without him, I wouldn't be here anymore," he says.
"Whichever way you look at it, LGBTI people have become more visible in sport. It is fantastic what we have achieved so far but sometimes we want to go too fast." That he can contribute to Pride through his contribution makes him happy. "Whoever you are, sport is for all of us." His husband Martin looks on approvingly.
"SOMETIMES WE JUST WANT TO MOVE TOO FAST"
"MY HUSBAND AND GAY FOOTBALL REFEREE JOHN BLANKENSTEIN ARE MY HEROES"
Pride ambassador since 2018
