About Kim
Kim, who comes from Groningen, was seven years old when her parents read in an article that judo was good for children with ADHD. And so Kim was soon after reading this article on the judo mat at Chi-Do Roden. The physical strength of her father, who owns a sawmill in Zevenhuizen, Groningen, had not skipped a generation and partly thanks to this strength, Kim won many of the local tournaments. After Kim had reported to Judo Groningen in 2006 on the advice of trainer Wubbo Zuidland, she made rapid strides and was included in the national selection of the Judo Bond Nederland. Thanks to John van der Meer, Kim started winning competitions not only on strength but also on technique and in 2007 Kim joined the European top in her age category with a silver medal at both the European Championship under 17 and at the European Youth Olympic To play. In 2008 Kim made the switch to Kenamju in Haarlem. Here she became European and World Junior Champion (-20 years old) under the guidance of Zeger van Oirschot, and as a junior she even won the Senior World Cup competitions.
In 2013 Kim made the switch to Budokan Rotterdam. With Marjolein van Unen as coach, Kim grew into one of the best judokas in the world in her weight category up to 70 kilograms. Two years later Kim decided to go back to Kenamju Haarlem where Maarten Arens became her coach. Under the leadership of Maarten, Kim became European Champion for the third time in 2015 and she remained the leader of the world ranking.
During the 2016 Olympic Games, Kim was the big favorite for winning Olympic gold. However, Kim lost in the second round to the later Olympic champion and was not entitled to a second chance. As a result, her debut at the Olympic Games ended in a great disappointment. After the Olympic Games, Kim took the time to graduate from primary school teacher training and to recover from injuries. Kim also emigrated to Italy where she lives with her boyfriend, the Italian judoka Andrea Regis. During the year, Kim can regularly be found at Papendal in preparation for the title tournaments. When Kim is not in the Netherlands or with the Dutch selection abroad, she trains at Accademia Torino near her hometown of San Mauro Torinese.
In the fall of 2017, Kim made a successful comeback. She clearly showed that she is back by winning several tournaments and by becoming European champion for the fourth time in April 2018. Unfortunately, Kim was diagnosed with a hernia shortly afterwards, which she successfully operated on a few months later. Kim also successfully returned from this and in 2019 Kim won the World Masters for the fourth time.
In 2021, Kim announced that she was pregnant with her first child and that she couldn't wait to start her third Olympic cycle with that little one in the stands. Aurora was born in May 2022, and less than six months after her birth, Kim already participated in her first competition. In December 2022, Kim was already close to winning a medal with a fifth place at the World Judo Masters. But in February 2023, with Aurora in the stands, eight months after becoming a mother, Kim really took her first medal: bronze at the Grand Slam in Paris. And so Kim is fully participating again in the Olympic qualification process towards Paris 2024.
The coaching team of Kim
Garmt Zijlstra
Coach NTC Papendal
Since the summer of 2021, Garmt has been Kim's personal coach and trainer. When Kim trains in Italy, this is done under his supervision.
Accademia Torino
When Kim trains in Italy, she trains at Accademia Torino. Her accompanists at Accademia Torino are Alessandro and Francesco Bruyere of Fiamme Azzurre. They are in regular contact with Maarten Arens.
isokinetic
Sports Medical Center Turin
With Dottore Fabrizio Tencone in charge, Kim can turn to Isokinetic for many medical matters. From physiotherapy, both prevention and rehabilitation, neuromuscular training to examinations such as making ultrasounds. Kim's physiotherapist is Isabella Prelli and in the Green Room Kim can be found with Paolo Benso.
Italian coaching team
Cynthia Bos-Vranken
Arnold Brons
Gino Kerkhoffs
Physiotherapist NTC Papendal
Cynthia and Kim have known each other since Cynthia became a physiotherapist at the Judo Association in 2007. Cynthia is almost always there at the games, which is very nice because Cynthia has also become Kim's confidant over the years.
Sports doctor
Arnold has been her sports doctor ever since Kim joined the national selection of the Judo Association when she was fifteen. Through Arnold's network, Kim can quickly contact specialists in the Netherlands, including the specialists of the AMC in Amsterdam.
Since 2012, Kim comes to Gino for all worse injuries:
“Gino understands the interests and always does everything to get me back on the mat quickly. If that is not feasible, then he is also honest. A while ago I tore two straps in my foot, I thought: I can do judo with tape. But Gino indicated that that would be very unwise. Because I know that he only says that if it really is not possible, I can accept that.”
Former trainers of Kim
Chi-Do Roden and Judo Groningen
1998 - 2008
Kim started her judocarreer at Chi-Do Roden. Until Kim was fifteen years old she trained with a lot of pleasure at this judoclub. One of her trainers at Chi-Do was Wubbo Zuidland. Wubbo had seen from the moment he became the trainer of Kim her talent and predicted a big future. It was Wubbo who told Kim to move to Judo Groningen where she made with John van der Meer the next steps in her judocarreer.
Zeger of Oirschot
2008 - 2013
Zeger van Oirschot has been a very important coach for Kim and he still is. Zeger is the coach who set the base for Kim as a judoka and due to Zeger Kim grew out to one of the best judoka's of the World.
Marjolein van Unen
2013 - 2015
When Marjolein van Unen became the coach of Kim, Kim became in no time the World Ranking Leader. With Marjolein as coach Kim became two times European Champion and she won bronze at the World Championships.
Maarten Arens
2015 - 2021
Kim has won a lot with Maarten Arens. Less than two months after the start of their collaboration, Kim won the World Judo Masters for the second time and became European Champion for the third time. In total, Maarten and Kim have won three World Judo Masters titles, two European titles, one European Games title, two Grand Slam titles and three Grand Prix titles.