Field hockey player Nico Keenan is at his second Olympic Games but this time around, he’s in the tricky position of being a reserve player.
In Tokyo three years ago, he was a key part of the Argentina team that reached the quarterfinals. In Paris, he had to watch from the stands as his country lost to Australia and drew to India in Group B.
However, on Tuesday, he got the call, coming into the squad for their 2-0 win over New Zealand. He started on the bench but was substituted on in the second half.
Keenan is also one of over 190 out LGBTQ athletes in Paris. Also in the city for the Games is his boyfriend, Rob Jetten, who is the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Yes, you read that right. This is a rare power couple that combines elite sporting and political talents.
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On Monday, Keenan was pictured smiling alongside Jetten away from the pitch in a post shared on the latter’s Instagram account.
But two days later, Jetten was able to share an image of himself reaching out from the stands to congratulate Keenan at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
The two men met in The Hague, where since 2017 Keenan has played for top-flight professional club HC Klein Zwitserland and Jetten has sat in the Dutch parliament.
“We happened to live close to each other — that’s how we bumped into each other. And now we’ve been together for two and a half years,” Jetten told De Telegraaf.
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Keenan was born in Buenos Aires but has lived in Europe since he was a child. His father Patricio also played hockey for Argentina and then moved into coaching.
At the Tokyo Olympics, he scored an extraordinary winner in a group-stage match against the hosts. It would later be voted by fans as the Best Goal of 2021 in the sport.
Either side of those Games, he twice helped Argentina to gold-medal success at the Pan American Games in Lima and Santiago.
In April, Keenan was interviewed about his relationship with Jetten by Dutch website Trouw. He said. “I don’t even feel like I’m doing anything special. I’m just living my life the way I want to live it.”
Asked about messages he has received, he added: “People told me how happy they were that there was finally an openly bisexual hockey player playing in the Premier League.”
It’s not been an easy path for Keenan. He said he “crashed” after experiencing the high of Tokyo. “My parents split up, I broke up with my girlfriend, and then decided to put my life on hold for six months and seek psychological help.
“I needed time. I quickly knew for sure that I wanted to go to the Paris Games, but when it came to love, I was at a loss. Fortunately, everything fell into place with Rob, I am very grateful for that, I was lucky.”
More recently, Keenan suffered a hamstring injury, a contributing factor to him only being selected as one of three reserves for Paris.
But through it all, he has had Jetten, who happens to be a huge sports fan, cheering him on. “I encouraged him continuously,” the 37-year-old told De Telegraaf.
And he’s still backing him now. “Nico is the most creative player on the team. They need him. Just before they left for Paris, he played out of his skin in practice matches again. I’m convinced that it will be fine and that I can still see him in action.”
It’s been a time of upheaval for the politician too. In August 2023, he took over as leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) party. Three months later, a snap election was called and the D66 lost more seats than any other party, being reduced from 24 to nine — their worst result in 17 years. Jetten now sits as part of the opposition in the lower house.
It’s encouraging news for the Dutch men’s hockey team so far at Paris 2024, though. As of Wednesday night, they had seven points from four games and sat second in Group A.
For Argentina, following the win over New Zealand in which Keenan featured, there are Group B matches to come against Ireland on Thursday and Belgium on Friday.
There are six teams in each group, with the top four progressing to the quarterfinals, so still plenty to play for.
Jetten says he is hoping for a Netherlands v Argentina final. He knows what the ideal scenario would be too. “Gold for the Netherlands. And a goal from Nico, of course.”
