![\"Rolstoelbasketballer](\"https:\/\/www.voxweb.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bb_0207_2026_06.jpg\")
<\/a>Rolstoelbasketballer Bo Kramer. Foto: Bert Beelen<\/p>\n\u2018Normally I score about twenty points a game. After the first half I had two. During halftime I completely lost it at myself. \u201cYou\u2019re damn well going to pull yourself together now. There are thirty thousand people in the stands and you\u2019re sitting there playing like a sack of potatoes. Show them what you can do!\u201d Then I scored thirteen points in the third quarter, and thirteen again in the fourth. I find it fascinating how you can rev up the collaboration between your body and your brain. Even when I\u2019m fit, I can still play terribly if my head isn\u2019t in the right place.\u2019<\/p>\n
Kramer grew up in a sporting family. Her parents played volleyball in the top national league. \u2018On Saturday mornings my twin sister and I were dropped off at the sports hall. I was a cheeky kid; football was my outlet. But I only really came to appreciate sport once it was no longer possible.\u2019<\/p>\n
At the age of ten, after an injury, a tumor was discovered on her right shinbone. It took nine operations to bring the bone cancer under control. For five years she sat on the substitutes\u2019 bench of her own life. \u2018I grew up fast. I cried for one night; I thought I was going to die. But once it became clear it wasn\u2019t a ferociously aggressive form, a switch flipped. Right, then I\u2019m going to get better too. I was happy whenever I could go to school, and I found the operations interesting. I got to keep a piece of the tumor, and the plate that had been in my shin. After my big operation I had to learn to walk again. I wanted to do the primary school leavers\u2019 musical standing up. And I did. As soon as I walked offstage, I quickly sat back down in my wheelchair in the wings.\u2019<\/p>\n
Did you feel no fear or grief in those years?<\/p>\n
\u2018I switched that off completely. You can be very scared and very sad, but whining or having opinions about it serves no purpose. If you want to get better, you have to keep going \u2014 I learned that the hard way. I always said the illness hadn\u2019t affected me much, but eventually you hit a wall and discover you did pick up a trauma after all. Because things happened in the hospital that were not okay.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018My entire shinbone had been removed and replaced with my left fibula. The day after the operation \u2014 I hadn\u2019t moved an inch, because I was in enormous pain \u2014 the doctor comes in and starts cutting off the bandage. I screamed the whole hospital together. My mother fainted. In that moment they took away my autonomy completely. They didn\u2019t listen to my screaming and just carried on. Ever since, a switch has been flipped inside me. I will never give away that autonomy and control again.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018My trust in my body took a beating too. Some tumor cells were left behind, and I\u2019ve always found that a frightening thought. By doing sport and living as healthily as possible, I make the chance of getting sick again as small as possible \u2014 in my head, at least.\u2019<\/p>\n
After your final operation, did you think: I\u2019m going to spend my life in a wheelchair?<\/p>\n
\u2018No, the doctors were convinced I wouldn\u2019t be left with any impairment. But I was in so much pain. Since my operations, my ankle can only move up and down. Rolling my foot through a step is difficult. Able-bodied sport was no longer an option.\u2019<\/p>\n
At the Paralympic Talent Day you discovered wheelchair basketball.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was love at first sight. It\u2019s a fast game, you\u2019re allowed to ram and crash into each other a bit; sometimes people and wheelchairs go flying across the court. At fifteen I went to the elite sports program at Papendal.\u2019<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been in the business for twelve years now. As a Paralympic athlete, do you lead a different life from Olympic athletes?<\/p>\n
\u2018No, we get the same salary and training facilities as an Olympic athlete. The biggest difference is that in Paralympic sport there is less competition and less turnover. In theory, it\u2019s easier to reach the top. If I quit, there aren\u2019t six more Bo Kramers waiting in line to replace me. That means you sometimes can\u2019t share a court with the very best players. But you still have to function as a team, so if you manage that, it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u2019<\/p>\n
Do you feel you\u2019re treated differently from an able-bodied athlete?<\/p>\n
\u2018There are people who say: what you do is even more impressive than Olympic sport. I think that\u2019s bullshit. Who says you haven\u2019t overcome adversity? All the complaining about the lack of media attention I find feeble too. How can we expect 18 million Dutch people to watch wheelchair basketball when they think people in wheelchairs are strange? It does look odd, doesn\u2019t it? I\u2019m convinced that once people know what wheelchair basketball actually is, they\u2019ll think it\u2019s incredibly cool.\u2019<\/p>\n
What should we know about wheelchair basketball?<\/p>\n
\u2018First of all, that we don\u2019t have an intellectual disability. Some people expect you to be practically drooling your way across the court.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Secondly, wheelchair basketball is much more tactical. Able-bodied basketball is a very lateral game; you can easily walk around a person. In a wheelchair that\u2019s harder, so we have to work together really well. But the game itself stays the same. The basket hangs at the same height and the court is the same size. We can do everything an able-bodied player can do.\u2019<\/p>\n Deadpan: \u2018Except dunking, because unfortunately my chair doesn\u2019t have a spring.\u2019<\/p>\n That wheelchair seems like friend and foe at the same time.<\/p>\n \u2018It is double-edged, yes. It\u2019s my freedom in sport, but outside of it I find it an obstacle, because the world isn\u2019t designed for people in wheelchairs. I can manage daily life without a wheelchair. An hour of walking is fine; an hour of standing gets harder. If I go shopping for a day I take the wheelchair, but that raises questions. People don\u2019t understand that sometimes I can walk and sometimes I can\u2019t. Or they start talking to my girlfriend about me.\u2019<\/p>\n What do you do in a case like that?<\/p>\n \u2018Then I put them on the spot and say: \u201chello, I can speak for myself.\u201d You don\u2019t have to twist your neck just because I look different in my wheelchair than you do.\u2019<\/p>\n In the attic, the student shows off the power rack where she trains every day. In this steel cage she sets the rules, but she also fights the pain every single day. \u2018I\u2019m broad up top, but my legs are thin. I can\u2019t really train them, because of the pain. The plate in my leg lies very close to my skin. Still, I recently took up running. I always want to push the limit. My strength coach always says: \u201cBo, you\u2019re not right in the head. You enjoy pain. If something isn\u2019t heavy or doesn\u2019t hurt, you don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n With a laugh: \u2018I think that as a top athlete you have to get a kick out of destroying yourself, otherwise you won\u2019t enjoy this.\u2019<\/p>\n Is elite sport a way of coping with the consequences of your illness?<\/p>\n \u2018Partly, for sure, because in sport you can also just ram straight through things and feel very little. When I sit still I feel useless. I\u2019ve had to learn to lie on the couch every now and then.\u2019<\/p>\n Why did you have to learn that?<\/p>\n \u2018Because I crashed spectacularly, twice. The first time was in 2020, during corona. Tokyo was postponed by a year and we no longer trained together. The moment I exerted myself, I felt nauseous. Two years ago the same thing happened. With the help of psychologists I\u2019ve learned to prevent myself from becoming overtrained. Was that fun? No. But sometimes I need to be slowed down.\u2019<\/p>\n How does that show in your private life?<\/p>\n \u2018My schedule is sacred; I prefer to have everything fixed weeks in advance. When I ask my girlfriend on a Sunday what we\u2019re having for dinner on Thursday, I can see her eyes roll. Sometimes the whole house has to be tidied up, because then it\u2019s quieter in my head too.\u2019<\/p>\n Kramer has been with her girlfriend for four years now. The paint in their newly bought house has only just dried; recently she shared their engagement on Instagram. International queer platforms celebrate her as a poster girl of the rainbow community. It\u2019s not a role Kramer would choose. \u2018Queer, lesbian \u2014 all those labels make my skin crawl. I\u2019ve had to learn that it matters that there are people at the front of this movement. But if we simply let everyone do as they please, the whole Pride thing wouldn\u2019t be necessary.\u2019<\/p>\n You feel no need for the support of such a safe community?<\/p>\n \u2018Everyone around me is supportive. Everyone on the street thinks I\u2019m a boy. When I walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, nobody bats an eye.\u2019<\/p>\n The World Championship in Canada <\/p>\n In April 2026, the Dutch Basketball Federation terminated the membership of national team coach Gertjan van der Linden after fourteen players from the national women\u2019s team filed a complaint against him over (sexually) transgressive behavior<\/a>. Kramer worked with this coach from the age of fifteen, but she declines to comment on the impact of his behavior. \u2018I won\u2019t give him that satisfaction.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>Rolstoelbasketballer Bo Kramer. Foto: Bert Beelen<\/p>\n