Loranne Smans

Three years after the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, I’m happy to share that I won the lawsuit against Sneeuwsport Vlaanderen and the Royal Belgian Ski & Snowboard Federation.
I was right, my non-selection had nothing to do with my abilities as an athlete, and I knew that. After all, I’m the only one who secured Belgium a spot in the Olympics for snowboarding. I wasn’t selected due to internal mistakes within the federation.

Only a few months before the games would start, the federation changed the Belgian selection criteria for the Olympics. Strange you say, changing the rules this close to the games? Well, how about not informing your athlete about it? How about intentionally keeping such important information from your athlete when it mattered most? Oh and let’s not forget all the lies afterwards…

The verdict of the court will not give me my Olympic spot back, but it finally gives me justice and recognition I should’ve gotten from the federation back then. Still to this day, I have never received an apology. You won’t believe it, but pretending nothing happened, lying about the whole situation, and refusing to help find a solution only makes things worse.
In January 2024, I decided to cut all ties with the federation and focus more on my academic career. And to be honest, I’ve been the happiest I’ve been in a long time since making that decision. It really shouldn’t be like that, I know. A federation should be there to support its athletes, not work against them.

Brief note to BOIC and Sport Vlaanderen: you might want to listen a bit better to your athletes next time they’re telling you they’ve been unfairly treated. It might save some careers in the future.

To summarise:
Am I a happy person? Yes.
Do I still love snowboarding? Absolutely.
Am I proud of myself? 100%.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who always had my back ❤️

Now fingers crossed people learn from their mistakes and never let this happen to an athlete – or anyone – ever again 🤞

🙋‍♀️ K2 Snowboarding

📷: Ben Kinnear