Can one of your biggest sports rivals also be one of your biggest fans?
If you ask World Transplant Games competitors Erik Van Rompaye of Belgium and Germany’s Elmar Sprink, the answer is yes.
The two met in 2023 at the Games – an Olympic-style event designed to raise awareness about organ donation and encourage recipients to get fit – in Perth, Australia. Van Rompaye, 54, received a liver transplant in 2021. Sprink, 53, got a new heart in 2012. Both were already accomplished endurance athletes long before their surgeries.
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Ahead of the Games, Van Rompaye heard that Sprink was “the man” to beat in Perth. He was right. But in the 5K road race and sprint triathlon, Van Rompaye edged the German out for gold with Sprink taking silver and bronze, respectively. On the medal podium, they struck up a conversation and discovered they’d both competed in the prestigious IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii, a brutal triathlon competition that sees participants complete a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race and a marathon-distance run.
