Renew: 09/09/2022 13:08
Issued by: 09/09/2022, 11:32

Prague – World record holder and two-time Olympic champion in the javelin Barbora potáková ended her professional career. The forty-one-year-old’s last race on stage was Thursday’s Diamond League final in Zurich, where he finished fifth with an appearance of 59.08 meters.

potáková, a former all-rounder, made his debut as a javelin thrower at the 2002 European Championships in Munich. This year, as a three-time world champion and owner of another medal of the top event, he returned to it after twenty years and won bronze in a last-ditch effort in a dramatic final. His partner Lukáš and his two sons, nine-year-old Janek and four-year-old Darek, celebrated with him.

“Every fairy tale has an ending and this fairy tale has a beautiful happy ending,” potáková said at a meeting with reporters at a restaurant near Pinkas, where he celebrated his medal.

She won at the Olympics in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. In 2016, she added bronze at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and after her second maternity break, she wanted to say goodbye to the Olympics in Tokyo. It was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus and ended up taking place in a bubble without spectators, so the potáková lacked the Olympic atmosphere and were eliminated in the qualifiers.

He extended his athletic career for another year, and soon after his success in Europe, he was unsure how to handle his future. In the end, he decided to leave the top stage. At his advanced sporting age, preparation was already difficult for him. “Her body is already complaining. I’ve been told for a long time that I should treat her better,” she said. Exercise is already a struggle to stay healthy. “You’re always watching yourself so you don’t get stabbed somewhere, it’s not fun anymore. That’s what Usain Bolt said when he finished. I find that it’s more fun for me to watch my boys work out than when I work out alone, ” he confessed.

On Thursday in Zurich, during the warm-up, he injured his Achilles, so he could not give his maximum performance. “I was angry. I asked myself why this had to happen to me before the last race. Again, without legs, 59 meters is very possible,” he said. He felt like a competitor until the very last moment. “It’s like a failed race. I’m still the same. If I don’t sell to the max, I’m disappointed. Any normal person would love to be in the top six, especially at my age. just as upset as ever. Nothing more,” he described how he experienced Thursday’s meeting.

Rivals know it’s over. “It’s different now than before, when there was a big rivalry. There wasn’t much fighting. We were a group that one of us could fly out of. We hugged and it was fun. We’re friends across generations,” he said. brag.

She revealed that with a win in the Diamond League, American Kara Wingerová said goodbye to her career. Thanks to a world silver in July, she received her first medal in 36 years from the world’s top event. “He is a good friend of mine. We had dinner together on the Tuesday before Zurich. This is his year and he really deserves it,” said potáková in his speech.

Now he will devote himself to his family and work in Dukla with the young athletes. “Now I especially want to rest, because I don’t even remember when I was this tired. My relatives were already worried about me in the last race. I want a little peace. I’ve always been a person who plans things and does things with consideration. It should subside for a while. Everything has some inertia,” he added.

potáková . athletic career