I’ve got my powers back: Dutch sportswoman falls in love with running in London after injury halts Olympic hockey dreams

A Dutch sportswoman whose lifelong dream of playing hockey at the Olympics was dashed after she suffered a career-ending knee injury and underwent five surgeries has now regained her sporting “powers” after falling in love with running in London.

Melanie Van Rijn, 21, who lives in Amsterdam, aspired to play hockey at the Paris Olympics having been called up to the U19 Dutch national team in 2020.

However, in her last game before the Covid-19 pandemic, she suffered an ACL injury, leading to five surgeries on her left knee over the following years.

During rehabilitation, several complications developed, including a cyst, her cartilage wearing away, and her ACL being incorrectly positioned – and she was given the “heartbreaking” news that she could not play any sport that involved turning.

After quitting hockey to focus on herself, Melanie took a solo trip to London in December 2023 – the first time she had visited the city – and one evening, she wanted to see Tower Bridge at night and decided to run there, despite being advised against this.

She said she experienced no pain and was “smiling” the whole way, stopping to take pictures and videos of the “beautiful” landmarks.

Now, having completed a triathlon for which she attained the title of national champion for her age group, she has signed up for this year’s Saucony London 10K – and she said crossing the finish line in the city where she “fell in love with running” will be “emotional”.

Speaking about her first run in London, Melanie told PA Real Life: “At that moment, I felt like I was in another world and no-one could stop me.

“When I was young, I never liked running at all, but because I couldn’t run for such a long time, I just fell in love with London and with running itself.”

She added: “When I saw the London 10K, I thought, ‘I have to do something in London just for myself because it all started there’.

“That’s where it all began and that’s where I got the feeling of getting my powers back.”

Melanie began playing hockey aged six – and from the moment she started, she said she “loved it”.

Over the following years, she was scouted to play for the Amsterdam first team, aged 16, and was later selected for the U19 Dutch national team, aged 17.

However, in the final Amsterdam team game on March 8 2020 before Covid-19, she suffered a catastrophic injury.

She said: “In the last six minutes, my knee got stuck with another player, because she was turning around, and I did a weird movement with my leg.

“Then I just fell to the ground and I felt a lot of pain.”

Although Melanie did not “hear anything snap”, she visited the hospital and later underwent an MRI scan, which revealed she had ruptured her ACL.

Two months later, on May 8 2020, Melanie had the first of five surgeries – but two weeks afterwards, she could not straighten her leg fully.

She was advised to wait one month, and then three months, but still there was no improvement and she struggled to walk.

She had a second surgery on November 2 2020, where it was discovered she had a cyclops lesion – which can cause loss of knee range – and this was removed.

Melanie continued: “I started to recover again and then, after six months, because I had to train my muscles, I was allowed to run for the first time.

“But during the same week, I was training with the physio and I heard a big snap and I came home and I couldn’t flex my knee anymore.

“Then I felt a huge lump in the back of my knee and I panicked.”

It was discovered Melanie had a cyst behind her left knee and she decided to seek a second opinion from a different doctor, who advised for another surgery.

On August 26 2021, she underwent her third surgery – and during her time in rehabilitation afterwards, her hockey teammates kept asking: “When are you coming back?”

Melanie said: “At the beginning, when I got injured, it was not that hard because no-one could play due to Covid.

“But as time went on, I knew it wasn’t going well and the hardest part was, I didn’t know when it was going to end.

“I just felt like I was taking steps backwards instead of forwards.”

During the third surgery, doctors discovered severe cartilage damage and said her ACL was not positioned in the correct place.

It was at this point that she was told by her surgeon: “The chance is really small for you to be on the field again.”

Melanie burst into tears and said it took a week to fully process the news, but given there was “a chance”, she did not want to “give up”.

After working on her strength and rehabilitation for one year, Melanie was able to play hockey again – with her first practice game taking place in the summer of 2022, and this was “the best feeling (she’d) had in those years”.

However, Melanie wanted to prove herself to get back on to the team and, in her third practice game, her ACL “snapped again”.

This led to two more operations on September 29 2022 and February 23 2023, and Melanie said to her mother: “I’m never going to play hockey again.”

She added: “It was hard, but it was a relief to let it out and to close that chapter.”

Melanie then decided to focus on herself and her studies, leading her to travel to London with EF Education First in December 2023 – her first trip there.

She had been told she was not allowed to take part in any sports that involved turning and she could not run at this point in time.

However, one evening, an urge to visit Tower Bridge led her to run again and she felt “unstoppable”.

“I just thought, ‘OK, I’ll just run and see where it goes’,” Melanie said.

“I went to Tower Bridge, and I saw it and thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s so beautiful’, and then I went to the London Eye and Big Ben.

“I went back to the hotel, and I think I was smiling all the time while I was running. I really fell in love with London at that moment.”

Despite being advised not to run, Melanie experienced no pain during the 10K route – and she completed two more runs during her trip in the capital, before returning home to Amsterdam and having another MRI scan.

She was told by her doctor she is “not going to be able to do everything in (her) life”, but with her newfound love for running, she asked whether she could sign up for some races, and she has since completed the Leiden half marathon and a triathlon.

She then signed up for the Saucony London 10K, which will take place in July this year, and she “can’t wait for this”.

Melanie believes her “courage” was the main reason she got through her injury, and she wants to encourage others to “never give up”.

Reflecting on her journey, she said: “When I think back on all these years, and I think of the first moment that I got injured, if I knew I had to go through this, I wouldn’t believe it and I would say: ‘I can’t make it through this’.

“It’s more a game with the mind. Sometimes you just want to give up, but your body is capable of so much more. You don’t have to give up here.”

General entries have sold out for the London 10K, but charity places are still available.

To find out more, visit: thelondon10k.com.