In this episode, I’m joined by René Holten Poulsen, an elite kayaker who has won three world titles, six European titles and an Olympic silver medal. We talk about his career, the motivation and drive it takes to get that far, and the reality behind elite sport.
René starts the conversation by describing himself as hard-working, stubborn and caring. If his competitors had to describe him, he thinks they’d say they have great respect for him, but of course also that he can be annoying when it comes to racing.
“I’ve never had the feeling that this is something I’m good at. I’ve had the feeling that this is something I’ll get good at”
In the episode, René takes us through his career, from his first taste of kayaking at Maribo Kajakklub to his dream today of winning Olympic gold. He tells us that as a child he tried lots of different activities, but within eight months of trying kayaking he’d dropped everything else. He explains that his upbringing taught him you can get good at anything if you put in the hours it takes. That’s why he has never felt naturally good at kayaking. It was something he could become good at.
René says it took him just six years to train his way to his first Olympics. At the same time, he was qualifying as a carpenter. He explains that as a Team Danmark athlete you have to be in education to receive support. René is convinced you have to be a full-time athlete to succeed, but he also points out that it can be a hard balance to strike in Denmark.
The reality behind elite sport
René explains that as a professional athlete in Denmark, he has to find his own sponsors, which takes real skill at marketing yourself. He believes you can become a good athlete in Denmark. But if you want to go all the way to the top, it takes a kind of freedom that the difficult balance between work and training can hold back.
He also feels that not enough money is set aside for elite sport in Denmark. René notes that Denmark spends far less on elite sport than other countries, and he wonders why a wealthy country like Denmark can’t find the funds to support it. He points out that many Danes see sport as a shared national treasure, but most don’t realise what being an elite athlete really involves.
Mindset, drive and mental balance
René’s current and ultimate drive is one single goal: winning Olympic gold. That personal dream motivates him every day to train well and get better. Still, he reflects that his mindset and his life were simpler when he went to his first Olympics at 19. Back then he wasn’t weighed down by defeats, and he describes his 19-year-old self as built to paddle fast. Anything that could drag him down, he cut out.
René calls himself a fierce competitor who doesn’t understand the concept of giving up. It simply isn’t an option for him. For him, success means getting results and achieving what he has set out to do, but that takes balance. And that balance hasn’t always come easily to René. He says that after a big setback in 2016, he ended up overtraining and putting himself under mental pressure, which didn’t lead to good results. Since then, he has worked on dealing with setbacks, and today he is mentally balanced and handles adversity in a different way from his younger days.