Bet naar de Olympiade

Summary

Auntie Bet Verdries decides that she would like to participate in the Olympic Games as representative of Amsterdam's working-class quarter the Jordaan. Having obtained permission from the selection committe in The Hague, she starts her training. Amidst a group of professional wrestlers she turns out to be a first-class performer. As ordinary seaman she climbs a mast with ease.

Bet is a warm-hearted woman and when she hears about an old colonial soldier who is dying, she hurries to his bedside to give him all the comfort she can. She adores the Dutch soldiers, and when the Rotterdam marine corps marches out, she swings along with the men in uniform. Thereafter she is promoted to superintendent of the volunteer fire brigade.

A friend takes her to a private swimming pool where, at that moment, the ladies' swimming club is practising. When Bet saves her husband Hein from drowning, he is fêted by the members of the club. Her further training programme includes playing tennis and football, as well as other athletic sports. No gains without pains is her motto, for she is determined to become world champion in some category or other.

However, the president of the Olympic committe rejects Bet... and gets his trousers pulled off because of his negative decision. Then Bet wakes up and realizes that all this has just been a pleasant dream.