The documentary ‘Bibian Mentel, Dare to dream’ was broadcast on Tuesday evening. NOS reporter Edwin Peek followed Mentel, who died on Monday, for more than six years. During the Paralympic Games and in her fight against cancer.
“Shortly after it became known that her brain had metastases again, I stood at the door with a flower. Her husband opened the door, but I heard a voice in the background.” Who is there? Edwin? Oh, but I want that one. see for yourself. ‘”
NOS reporter Edwin Peek was one of Bibian Mentel’s confidants for years. First as a neighbor, from 2014 also as a documentary maker. For seven years he filmed Mentel in all her guises. Shining in the snow, but also in her worst moments when the disease had struck. Tough, but never beaten.
“Bibian shuffled to the door in a wheelchair. She saw me and the first thing she asked was, ‘How are you?'”
A seven-year process
Peek worked for seven years on the documentary ‘Bibian Mentel, Dare to dream’. A process over which the gloomy threat of the disease has always been.
Just a week ago Peek had a long personal conversation with Mentel. Last Tuesday he spoke to her by phone. Everyone knew the end was coming, yet news of her death came unexpectedly.
Peek started work on the documentary about seven years ago. “I already covered the Paralympic sport and so also in 2014, when snowboarding was first scheduled in Sochi. That was entirely thanks to Mentel. And she also became the first Paralympic champion.”
“There, on that stage in Krasnaya Polyana, in the mountains above Sochi, I may have seen her happiest. There were few people, but her family was there. She gave a kiss and had tears in her eyes. really impressed me. “
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Bibian was a source of inspiration, although she always thought that was strange. She always said, ‘I live my life the way I think it is right’
“It was clear to me that there was to be a documentary about Mentel. And there was also plenty of support for it. Then I went for a cup of coffee at Bibian’s house and asked her what she thought of the idea. She immediately said yes. Then I said: “Hoho, maybe you should take some time to think.” But she didn’t really need that time. “
“We had not made any appointments and were allowed to film everything. So also the difficult conversations: with the doctors in Leiden, with her family. It was also about the end.”
“It seemed so far in August 2017. We filmed Bibian in bed, she was so sick. At that time she was really on the verge of death. But it didn’t come to that. She was operated on her back, damaged vertebrae were replaced by titanium. On January 5, 2018, her neck was still stabilized and three weeks later she was on a snowboard in Canada. She was radiant, had color on her cheeks. As if nothing was wrong. “
Unlimited positivity
Mentel’s death has provoked many reactions at home and abroad. What will Peek especially remember about her? “Her limitless positivity. She saw a ray of sunlight everywhere. Mentel single-handedly put snowboarding on the map for physically disabled people. Without her, that sport would not have been paralympic now. But her influence is even greater. handicapped child just did not play sports, that was too much hassle. For Mentel that limit did not exist. If someone fought for equal opportunities, it was she. “
Watch a report below of the last interview that Edwin Peek had with Bibian Mentel last week and that was published on Sunday.
Peek: “Until a few months ago she still traveled every week to the artificial snow track in Zoetermeer to teach children with a disability to snowboard. A very large portrait of Mentel hangs at the track and you noticed that parents were impressed by her. not children, she was just Bibian to them. “
“Bibian was a source of inspiration, although she always thought it was strange. She always said: ‘I live my life as I think it is right.'”