The marriage of sports journalist Ruben Van Gucht (37) and Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlašić (40) was widely discussed last summer. Two weeks ago, Van Gucht showed that he was thoroughly fed up with this. “I’ve had enough of all the trouble,” said Radio 2. In ‘The House’, Van Gucht talks candidly for the first time on Tuesday about the ins and outs. “I indeed have a life in Belgium and one in Croatia. Also relational.”
Recently, sports presenter Ruben Van Gucht (37) said on the radio that he has had enough of all the gossip about his private life. “Mind your own business,” said Radio 2, where he also presents ‘The Week Watchers’. On Tuesday he will take part in an episode of ‘The House’at the side of Eric Goens, took the reins during a candid conversation about his much-discussed marriage.
Van Gucht met the Croatian multiple high jump champion Blanka Vlašić during a Sporza interview. The happy couple tied the knot in May 2022. Seven months later their son Mondo was born.
Today Blanka lives with his son Mondo in Croatia, where Van Gucht occasionally visits them while he continues working in Flanders. “That is the best solution at the moment,” he said. “I still have ambitions in Flanders and also bills to pay. The way we arrange it now: everyone is satisfied and happy with it. I have a wife who takes incredibly good care of my son and who is perfectly okay with me living in Belgium.”
“No mark on my relationship”
A video interview with Van Gucht at the Olympic Games caused quite a stir on social media last summer, when bare female legs were spotted in the background of his hotel room, while Blanka was in Croatia. Without mentioning names, presenter Eric Goens notices that there are some stories about women going around. “I call Blanka every day,” Van Gucht puts things into perspective. “And I go to her as much as possible. We talk a lot. Often everything has already been explained before it appears in the media. Blanka and I, we often laugh about that. Everything that is written has zero effect on us.”
In ‘The House’ Van Gucht openly tells us for the first time that Blanka is indeed not the only woman in his life, and that the couple has made a kind of pact about this. “I want everyone to have their own type of relationship,” says Van Gucht. “What kind of relationship am I in? I don’t like to put a label on that, because it is my life. And only those involved deserve an explanation. But I indeed have a life in Belgium and one in Croatia. Also relational. I don’t bother anyone with that. I don’t commit criminal acts. There is always open communication about this. So no one should worry about who is involved and ‘whether they won’t know’. None of that is an issue.”
No details
Blanka approves of his life in Flanders, says Van Gucht. “Blanka can safely tell me: ‘this is not the life I want’, but she doesn’t say that,” she said. “If it really bothered her, she could have asked for a long time not to come to Split anymore. But that is not the case. We have agreed on the principle. And the details? We don’t have to share that. They only cause pain anyway. That doesn’t benefit anyone.”
And how are the roles reversed, Goens wonders. “That has already happened. And that’s okay. If you agree on something, you have to stick to it.”
‘The House’, Tuesday, November 5 at 8:40 PM on VRT 1.
