Career
His nickname is "Lord of the Rings". Born in Waalwijk, Netherlands, Van Gelder took the gold in the men"s rings at the 2005 European Championships held in Debrecen, Hungary. On July 13, 2009 he revealed that he used cocaine three days before the Dutch championships in Rotterdam.
Van Gelder said he very much regretted his "lapse" and called himself "incredibly stupid".
He has since had to return his national championship gold medal, and was suspended by the Dutch Gymnastics Union. International Olympic Committee regulations implied that because of the suspension he would not be admitted to the Olympic Games in 2012.
He was also fired from his job with the Dutch military, as they have a "zero tolerance" drugs policy. He was pulled out of the 2010 Worlds a few days before start, with the team citing personal medical reasons and refusing to answer questions about drugs.
In 2011 there was an appeal, by LaShawn Merritt, at the Chemical Abstracts Service against the general rule that after a suspension the athlete is not allowed to participate in the next Olympic Games.
The appeal was granted and thereby Van Gelder still had a chance to qualify. Van Gelder has now started preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympics.