“I would like to share a great news with you, my friend Mark Zúber and I are expecting a baby. It would be hard to hide anymore, so we go out with the truth. I have had a great career and I thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who supported me and they support me. I’m looking forward to a new role now. Everything is going well, only my belly is growing and I can no longer fit in my jeans, “smiles 35-year-old Hejnová in a video through which she informed the public.
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The official farewell to the fans is planned by a successful obstacle course on Tuesday, May 31, on the occasion of the Golden Stilts in Ostrava. “I wanted to say goodbye to the stadium in front of Czech spectators,” added Hejnová, who has been struggling with health problems lately and has not raced for almost two years.
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The last time she raced on September 8, 2020, she was just at Zlaté tretře, where she ran 300 meters of obstacles. “I probably didn’t imagine the end in such a way that I wouldn’t take place again … But of course I’m very happy with what awaits us. Now we have a completely different life ahead of us,” added the former youth champion of the world.
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The two-time winner of the Czech Athlete of the Year poll and holder of three awards for the best Czech athlete for this year, she planned a farewell season anyway with the wish to make an ideal end to her racing career at the European Championships in Munich. For a long time, however, she could not fully prepare for the problems with Achilles, which also cost her to participate in last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. It wasn’t until the beginning of this year that she underwent a heel growth operation that pushed the tendon, and she missed the indoor part of the athletic year. Already in April, however, she announced that her return to the track was not certain.
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| ZUZANA HEJNOVÁ |
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| Date and place of birth: 19 December 1986, Liberec |
| Height and weight: 173 cm, 63 kg |
| Club / coach: Dukla Praha / Dana Jandová |
| Biggest achievements: |
| OH (0-0-1): 2012 (London) – bronze |
| World Cup (2-0-0): 2013 (Moscow) and 2015 (Beijing) – gold (all 400 m hurdles) |
| Next: HME 2017 (Belgrade) – silver (400 m); HMS 2010 (Doha), European Championship 2012 (Helsinki) and HME 2013 (Gothenburg) – bronze (all 4×400 m); 2x overall winner of the Diamond League 400m hurdles (2013 and 2015) |
| Awards: winner of the poll for the best European athlete of 2013; 2x winner of the Czech Republic Athlete of the Year poll (2013, 2015), 3x winner of the Czech Republic Athlete of the Year poll (2013, 2015, 2019) |
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