Being so close to his Olympic dream, Latvia’s leading sprinter Sindija Bukša, due to an injury, starts the Tokyo Olympics in the second place. Bukša admitted that the injury could have been avoided, which is why the frustration is so great. However, the athlete is convinced that she needs this forced rest, because if she had gone to the Olympics, she probably would not have shown herself best. The athlete told Latvijas Radio in an interview about how to overcome losses and set future goals.
Liene Spundiņa: When I invited you for an interview, you said that this is a difficult time for you.
Sindija BukšaA: Yes, yes, it’s a pretty hard time in sports, because if I don’t go in sports, I don’t go in life either.
Sports is your whole life?
I will not say that my whole life. It’s been a big part of my life, but definitely not my whole life. I don’t want to define myself as an athlete who only knows sports and nothing else in my life. That’s why I’m a very versatile person and I play sports professionally.
Interview with athlete Cindy Linda Spundiņa00:00 / 00:00
About this difficult period. What worried you? Tell those who may not know it.
I was worried about my injury I had at the European Team Championship about two and a half weeks ago. The race came to tear a little muscle, which is not tragic. It’s all healable, a couple of weeks just off the gym. But the most tragic thing is that it happened at the wrong time – just when there will be an Olympics, the whole season is in such “heat”.
And then there’s the trauma … that’s the most stupid thing that can happen to an athlete. And in general, the trauma as such – I am a very active person, and then I am told that you will not be able to do anything for four weeks now. Okay, I can’t do anything for four weeks now. It drives me into such a little depression. I really need their movement, I need to ride a bike, rollerblade, run and everything else. It’s the most painful thing that you can’t do. But you have to live with it. It’s a sport.
Sports often have such injuries. Were you able to avoid this particular injury to any extent?
Definitely. Injuries can always be avoided. It depends on how we worked before the race. This time it was like I didn’t feel anything until then. Usually athletes feel if something is wrong, if something is wrong with the muscles. Athletes generally feel their bodies more than others on a daily basis. But in this case there was no such feeling. I went to the start and felt great. Everything seemed cool to me. I also have the first three steps I ran … I have a very bad start in general, people often tell me that I should work at the start. Everything was cool, and I also looked at the repetition that everything was great, but in some of the fourth step I felt pain and everything was bad. But it happened.
I really can’t say why that happened. Maybe making some wrong decisions before this race with the coach, which is also a difficult topic in a way.
We shared our thoughts on what should run, what should not run before this race in other races. Maybe that was the key point, because I felt the other leg, but I injured a completely different leg. It’s very mystical, but maybe it was some kind of indicator, a sign.
There was disagreement with the coach. Which path did you choose? What did the coach recommend, or how did you feel at that moment?
Athletes need to trust their coaches. If you do not have mutual trust, then why do you work together at all? In this case, of course, I trusted my coach. I knew what she was doing and she had had experience with me before. If I say I don’t want to run something, then she has, “Oh, you want to! You have no choice.”
This time it was the same. I said I didn’t want to run 100 meters in Saldus before the team championship, which was in the race. She said, “No, no run, run!” I trusted, “Okay, if you say you have to run, then I’ll run.” No options. But for me personally, it wasn’t in the plans, because some intuitive feeling made me think that I shouldn’t run. But I have to have confidence with a coach. Maybe this trust didn’t work as well this time as before.
This is a hot weather for athletes. Definitely the Olympic start in this case was at stake?
Yes, definitely the Olympic Games were on the game, because after that team championship I had to participate in the Latvian Championship, which would be the decisive point, whether you will go to the Olympics or not; whether you meet the norm or get ranking points. I was shocked and I didn’t have a chance to start there at all, so I automatically dropped out of this trip. On the other hand, I didn’t experience it very much.
It is painful, but I do not survive, because now the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not be as usual, given the situation in Covid-19. You leave for 48 hours, start, come back.
You have to do it all in two days, and you don’t have the opening of the Olympics, “afterparty” [noslēguma pasākuma], throughout the atmosphere normally gained at the Olympics. Maybe it had to happen that I would have to get in three years [olimpiskajās spēlēs] It must be experienced in Paris and there. I’m young, I still have everything ahead of me.
Your goal is Paris …
Definitely, yes now, because you have to set goals in sport. My goal was Tokyo, now my goal is broken, so to speak. And the next goal I have to set. I usually do this with big goals. I set big goals to make them hard to achieve. And until then, I change those little goals. But with those small goals, I get to those big ones. The main thing is that you have a big goal in mind. And the Olympics are definitely my dream. If I do not fulfill it, I will not be able to end my sports career in peace. Although I will have to take part in chess and go to the Olympics with it. I don’t even know if it’s an Olympic sport. Do not care. Although darts. I have to get there, I have to experience that dream.
Why is the Olympics your dream? What does this mean for you?
It means a lot to me in the sense that sports have always been my big brother or big sister. What teaches me the perception of life, the mode, hardens the character. It has always taught me a lot. Sports just changed me. That’s why the Olympic dream is so alive, because all the athletes who do it professionally want to get to the Olympics, because that is the highest point of their career. If you get there, these are the boundaries that you will no longer be able to overcome.
I could liken the Olympics to Eurovision, which is in music. This is the highest point in your career.
So this is my dream. Those sponsors, yes, of course, if you are an Olympian, then there is a completely different attitude towards you. You can write on your CV and the employer will say, “Oh, cool! You’re an Olympian. That means you’ve worked very hard to get there. You have the traits to work, not only in sports, but also in work. on the market. ” I feel like it’s such a good entry on my resume and I probably would have gotten it. But nothing, everything ahead.
You are definitely preparing for Tokyo, because you mentioned that it was your big goal. How close were you to your goal to achieve it?
Two weeks before the injury, I was still ranked inside, where you earn points in the top five races. And I was in the rankings, which means my participation in the Olympics. But after those two weeks, it was already within the team championship, I had fallen out of it a bit. Of course, I had that wonderful opportunity to start and participate in the Latvian championship, but it didn’t happen, so I didn’t get back in the rankings. But I was really very close and was like feeling on the road. Everything was already discussed – accreditations, everything, everything. I have already been asked what day you want to go to Tokyo. But it happens. Close, but just as far.
If you started there, how good a chance would you have there?
I will honestly say that this season I have had this top-down, top-down. The results have not been as good as I would like.
Definitely, if I went to Tokyo, I would not start at the level I would like. Maybe it also reassures me that I don’t feel in good shape.
So when I go there, I wouldn’t want to be as a tourist, as the people on the couch think. Go to the race, you do not start well and leave just after traveling. I don’t go to any races after traveling. Those results this year are not good, I know why it is, and I know what I should change to be good. The only thing I would have fulfilled my dream of going there.
In sports, it is always the case that someone wins, someone loses. Don’t you feel like a loser right now?
I definitely feel like a loser. I don’t like to lose at all, as an athlete. But losing must also be learned. If you can understand why and what, then in a way it is not a lost victory. The key question is – why. If you can answer this question, then you are not a loser, you are a winner. You always have to find those positive things in all the bad things that happen. This is the super negative thing that is in my life, but it should not ruin my entire future career. So I look with such a future look at myself in sports. Everything will be fine.
What would you recommend to others in doing something else in your career who has some loss in their career. How to get over it?
All I have said before is to understand why, to look at the positive. It will never be easy to get over it because you will have to go through that pain.
Many say that it is necessary to ignore, to forget, to say that it has not been, but I personally cannot forget things.
Sometimes it seems, why can’t I forget? In a way, you have to go through it, you have to ache and then get up. You just get up and grow, and in the meantime you understand all those positive, negative things.
You currently have such a rest period. Do you feel that you needed such a moment for yourself?
Definitely, because sports are 24 hours a day every day, I feel. You have to think about sleeping, eating, training, how you will recover after training, so you are always in the rhythm that it is very difficult for you to get out of it.
And this respite from sports in a way gives me a new uplift, because now I can relax, do what I want for a month. Spending time with friends, family – those people in my life were forgotten.
Mom always asks me, “Well, when will I see you?” But I don’t know, I have a race next week. My mother-in-law, the biggest fan, often doesn’t see me. But now I have that wonderful opportunity to meet people, enjoy time. Then, when I have done all this, I will have peace. I’ll be back in the sport with new energy, so I suggest everyone take a break. As we know, burnout is also quite a topical topic, and in sports you can definitely burn out, because you have to train all year round, start competitions, so it is good to take a break. This time it is a forced break, but fate had probably decided it. I enjoy this time and take it positively.
These are the perfect conditions to relax …
That’s it, that’s it. Very good time to spend the summer with great quality.
I wish you to spend a quality summer and relax and prepare for the next starts and season.
Yes thank you. It will definitely help me.
