Current Affairs Javelin thrower Špotáková describes ‘path to Olympic gold’ in new book

Barbora Špotáková, photo: CTK “I think there is no doubt about it. It was the Olympic final, which was a beautiful story which ended with a gold medal. So, there is no doubt about it, that it was this moment. But there were plenty of beautiful moments last season. But it is this above all things, no doubt about it.”

It has often been written about this final that it was one of the most gripping, interesting, finals in the discipline for many, many years. Is that what it felt like as a competitor, or was it just extremely frustrating to be lagging in second place throughout?

“It was especially emotional, especially after I won, and not just for me, but for all of the Czech team, because everybody was crying and I was crying. You don’t know what to do – it isn’t just like you are celebrating, it is rather that only then do you realize that you have done something big and now you start to realize what things were like before. And that is maybe what I have tried to write in this book, my path to the Olympic gold medal.”

Barbora Špotáková, photo: CTK Has your life changed since you won that Olympic gold?

“I don’t think that I have changed a lot. But maybe the surroundings changed a little bit. People behave towards me a little bit differently, but I don’t like this, because why should people change the way they approach me if I haven’t changed? So that is a little strange. But especially what I see - the biggest difference - is when I walk down the street, people recognise me. That is the biggest change, but I haven’t changed, I hope not, and I don’t think my friends would say that I have changed. So I hope I haven’t.”

Okay, but what do you think about the fact that, like it or not, you have perhaps become a bit of a national hero, at least for a while?

“Umm, well, you feel that through sport you can make people happy, and very happy. You have a power. That’s what I found out last year, that through sport you have the power to make people happy. And that is something amazing. That is what the most beautiful thing about this is.”

What is left for you now to achieve? What do you still want to achieve?

“Well, I think the world record came at the end of the season, which is not when you are in top shape. So, there is still, from my point of view, a way for me to throw a little longer. So, I hope that the world record is not yet definite. So, that is the first thing, and the other thing is, as I told you, making people happy. And if you are healthy and winning, you really enjoy this. So, the motivation is to compete and make people happy again.”