Former Czech swimming star Barbora Závadová is a coach. The bronze medalist from the 2012 European Championships and the fifth woman of the 2015 World Championships in the 400-meter position races closed their careers before the end of the year. The 28-year-old multiple Czech record holder will remain in Australia, where she has trained in recent years.
Her last big race in the Czech colors was the 2019 World Championship. Then she remained closed in Australia due to a coronavirus pandemic and did not qualify for big events last year.
Due to limited travel, she could not fly to the Czech Republic in person, so she sent a letter, the passages of which were published by the swimming association. “When I started preparatory courses in Ostrava almost twenty years ago, it never occurred to me how far swimming could take me.
I have always loved swimming and water, and the decision to pursue a professional swimmer was very natural and easy for me. To this day, I remember sitting on a bench in the Porub pool as a little Bája watching the ‘big swimmers’ train. I thought to myself that I wanted to swim like that once, too. And I can say that I fulfilled my dream, “Závadová confided.
The former elite semi-finisher competed at the 2012 Olympics in London and four years later in Rio de Janeiro. She ended her national team career after almost fifteen years. “It was a great ride, with obstacles, but it was worth it every day. I secretly believed that I would be able to get to the Olympics or at least the World Championships in December and I could race once again,” she recalled. Her last race was the two-hundred markers at the June Olympic qualifiers in Adelaide.
Her career was extended by moving to the opposite leg. “Australia has shown me new training methods, I have tried something I have never dreamed of. I have trained for four years in a country that loves swimming and produces the best swimmers in the world. I have trained with Olympic medalists, world record holders and many other great swimmers. “Maybe I wasn’t meant to be. Australia has become my second home,” she confided.
He stays in his second home immediately after retiring. “Currently I have become a swimming coach at Kawana Waters Aquatics, which was also my last team. I work as a Pilates reformer instructor and I try to start my own business,” she said.
She also plans projects in her native Czech Republic, where in 2019 she organized a swimming academy in Olomouc. “The project was supposed to continue, but the pandemic disrupted more plans than it seems. I would like to continue in my clinics or academy in the future. It will probably only be half of Australia,” she added.
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