Coach, Surveyor

Industrial Engineering - Ghent University, Belgium

Dutch, English

TK Werchter [Belgium]

Sergey Tretyakov [national], UKR

He has competed in bodybuilding and won gold in the men's physique +179cm category at the 2021 Diamond Cup event in Mons, Belgium. (Instagram profile, 25 Oct 2021; ifbb.com, 23 Oct 2021)

He took up acrobatics at a club in Rumst, Belgium. (gymnastics.sport, 09 Mar 2022)

General
RETIREMENT AND COMEBACK
In 2018 he decided to step away from the sport to focus on his studies. He was encouraged to return to training by Belgian national coach Sergey Tretyakov, who was seeking a mixed pair partner for Helena Heijens ahead of the 2022 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Rottger and Heijens went on to win a clean sweep of mixed pair gold medals in Baku. "I wanted to finish my studies, and the combination with the many hours of training made that too difficult. Since there were two big competitions in a short period of time [the 2022 World Championships and the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, AL, United States of America], I felt like it was an opportunity I had to take. It was really unexpected, I didn't really think I would do it in the beginning, but then I started thinking about it. We did a trial training together and that felt really good, that convinced me." (gymnastics.sport, 15 Jul 2022, 13 Mar 2022, 09 Mar 2022)

BODYBUILDING
During his time away from gymnastics he competed in bodybuilding. "I always liked doing fitness and I wanted a new challenge for myself. It's mostly weight training and really strict dieting before the competitions. It's not really measuring muscles, it's comparing different physiques. It was fun." (gymnastics.sport, 15 Jul 2022)

COACHING
He has served as a gymnastics coach at the TK Werchter club in Belgium. "Being a coach for several years has definitely helped me get a better understanding of how the sport works and also improved my understanding of the different elements." (gymnastics.sport, 09 Mar 2022; Instagram profile, 25 Oct 2021, 30 Mar 2020)

OCCUPATION
He works as a surveyor at a geospatial data management company in Belgium. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Jun 2022)

FURTHER STUDIES
In 2021 he completed a degree in real estate and surveying at the Artesis Plantijn University of Applied Sciences and Arts Antwerp in Belgium. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Nov 2021; begeo2021.be, 17 Oct 2021)