At the Olympics, she swam the semi-finals, at European events she attacked for a medal several times. And just as she was about to capitalize on her years of hard work in the pool, she started getting signals from her body to slow down. But she did not respond to them sufficiently.
“I think it happens to a lot of athletes, we don’t want to admit the pain and then it catches up with us,” the 26-year-old swimmer knows today. During her examination last year, cardiac arrhythmias were discovered, with which she headed for surgery. This spring came a series of health problems. “My body probably kept telling me something, but I kept going until the last moment,” she describes.
The difficulties culminated in stressful moments when she lost sight in one eye. She had to miss the world championship in Fukuoka, Japan, but that was not the main thing that weighed on her at that moment.
“I didn’t think about swimming at all. I just wanted to be healthy and not have this happen to me. I was worried about myself and thought that it was too much,” she returns to a difficult period.
For about four days, the fog in her eye traveled from side to side, and although her vision improved again, the scars on her psyche remained. “For a while I considered that I wouldn’t come back,” she admits to dark thoughts. With the support of her family and loved ones, she returned to the pool, but she herself set a basic rule: “Take care of yourself. When the body indicates something, stop.’
Photo: ČSPS – Martin Sidorják
Swimmer Kristýna Horská
Not that she would slack off in training, she and her coach Petra Škábová agreed that it would be pointless to go back to half throttle. But for example, when Horská caught a virus in October, she did not hesitate, took three days off and only then returned to training.
“I realized a lot of things and reassessed my attitude towards sports. Even though we love him terribly, that’s not all. Health always comes first,” he describes his changed approach.
And if something goes wrong in the pool? “I’m no longer the type to say to myself: Jesus Mary, that’s terrible! I realized that what had happened to my eyes was a much bigger problem than some failed race. There will be a few more, but we only have one health,” he knows.
Reward and affirmation
As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” makes her an even tougher swimmer now. Before the final of the European Championships in the short pool, she repeated to herself: “For everything I’ve been through, a medal would be a nice reward and confirmation that I did well to come back.”
And the reward came, she finished third in the 200 breaststroke. Although it took her a while to realize it. “I can’t see far and I can’t swim with lenses because it bothers me. Only when the coach and parents were jumping in the stands, I thought that they wouldn’t jump like that because of the Czech record. So there wasn’t that initial joy, like I’m reaching and slapping the water with joy,” he smiles.
But in Mixzón, she also talks about why she included kickboxing in her training, how much she enjoys swimming with her boyfriend, why she would like to work with children one day and whether she inherited her love for motorcycles from her father.
Stories, observations and experiences of personalities from the endless world of sports.
Listen to our other podcasts and shows:
Show all