FLYING Dutchman Gian van Veen was blocked from becoming a pilot – because of his colour-blindness.
But the eyesight affiliation has not prevented him from being very efficient at finding the green-and-red-coloured double and treble beds on the dartboard.
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Gian van Veen was blocked from becoming a pilot due to being colour-blindCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Van Veen, 23, is one of the most intelligent and well-educated darts players on the circuit and had a very important and high-pressure job before moving into the sport.
Before he turned to full-time darts at the start of 2024, he was involved in the aviation industry in his homeland.
Yet any plans to fly through the skies on a daily basis never really got off the ground.
Van Veen said: “I worked in the logistic part of aviation. Did I want to fly? No. I’m quite tall, so it was a bit difficult to do that.
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“Height restrictions as well and I’m a bit colour-blind as well, so that doesn’t help as a pilot.
“It’s not that bad, luckily. But as a pilot you’ve got very strict requirements. It wasn’t my dream job.
“I just liked aviation, still like aviation in general, so whenever I got to work at the airport or logistic stuff or even cargo aviation, I was already happy.
“Not air traffic control. Just more about capacity planning, stuff like that.”
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Van Veen’s decision to throw from seven feet and nine-and-a-quarter-inches has been heavily rewarded, particularly when he banked £120,000 for lifting the European Championship in Dortmund in October.
In that event, his first TV major success, he had a hard route to the top, beating Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals 11-9 and then Luke Humphries 11-10 in the final.
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As a result, he is likely to be named on the Premier League circuit next year, which will boost his bank balance further.
And heading into the PDC World Darts Championship – he faces Spaniard Cristo Reyes in round one on Friday evening – he is the fourth favourite with the bookies.
The one hope is that he does not CUT his finger again and there is blood on the world-famous oche, which is what happened during the latter stages of the Euros.
The No.10 seed – who retained his world youth title last month – said: “To lift a title with a bloody finger, yeah, it didn’t help. But in the end, you know, it’s a nice story to tell.
“It was a little cut. It didn’t hurt, but the blood didn’t help. The grip on my finger constantly changed. There’s no easier way than the hard way!
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
“I think someone on talkSPORT, who had come from a rugby background, was saying: Why are you complaining about a bloody finger? I said: ‘Yeah. But in darts it’s difficult.’
“It constantly changed the grip on my finger. So I had some darts, especially against Van Gerwen in the semi-final, which just slipped away from me.
“It can end up in tops or the bullseye. I didn’t know where it was going.
“It affected me in the semi and the final. I even said to my girlfriend, I can’t play with this.
“But then I thought, it’s one of the most important matches of your career so far.
“You have to deal with it and, if you complain about it constantly and you lose, you’re going to be angry at yourself. Like, why didn’t you try harder?
“So at the second break, I tried to flick the switch. It’s like, okay, it is what it is. Just play on and see what you can do.”
