Belgian ex-professional Olivier Kaisen (31) and his wife, the Belgian international Ludivine Henrion (31) suffered a terrible tragedy last Friday when their 15 month old son Jussi died after having been admitted to hospital with an infection of the respiratory tract. The following day, Ludivine gave birth to their daughter Lizzy.
A former team mate of Ludivine’s, Maaike Polspoel, said, “It’s really unreal. Six months ago, I saw Ludivine with her son Jussi at the retirement of our colleague Liesbet De Vocht. Jussi was sitting on Marianne Vos’ lap.”
Last year, Kaisen who was with Lotto Belisol at the time, was forced to retire from the sport due to cardiac rhythm problems. At the time, he said, “I would have loved to race a few more years, but I have to listen to my body and respect the conclusion of the doctors, even though this is very hard. I had never thought that someone else would decide about the end of my career. At the moment, I’m a lot at home with my wife and son Jussi. There are worse things in life, but cycling has been part of my life for more than 20 years. I have no idea yet how my future looks like, I only got the news a few days ago and want to let it all sink in.”
