The swimmer Barbora Seemanová, who cannot defend the European title in the 200-meter freestyle in Rome, returned to the pool after Lyme disease. After taking antibiotics, she successfully passed health tests, but trainer Petra Škábová urges her to be careful.
It was the lack of rest and recovery after sixth place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo that could have been behind a series of health problems that have accompanied the best Czech swimmer ever since.
Doctors discovered a herniated disc last September, but she still completed the ISL team competition. And then followed the preparation for the European and World Championships in the short pool. “I think that I emphasize rest, but after the Olympics there was no more room for it. You want everything. Bára got sick after Tokyo and that took her with her fragile body for the whole season,” Škábová told journalists today.
At the EC in the short pool in Kazan, Seeman was sick. “I wanted her not to enter, but she entered,” Škábová recalled the races that brought Seeman silver in the 200m crawl. The virus was then treated by her ward during the next round of the ISL and she flew to Abu Dhabi for the World Championships in the short pool in December.
She had to leave it early due to breathing problems. On the spot, the doctors attributed it to a blocked back, but after returning, they discovered pleurisy in Seeman. “After returning, she fell down the stairs and broke her ribs. Her body was very exhausted. She passed out on the stairs and woke up downstairs. That’s a big exclamation point that it’s not like this,” revealed Škábová.
Due to treatment and recurring problems, Seeman was unable to prepare for the World Championships. Her highlight was supposed to be the continental championship in Rome, but a tick deprived her of a trip to Italy. “Borreliosis was a blow, because at that time she was already completely fit and in great training shape,” said Škábová. Seeman was given antibiotics and prescribed rest. “After three weeks of antibiotics, she passed the tests and seems to be fine. She started light training last week. She wants to work, but I encourage her to take it slow,” said the trainer.
Her twenty-two-year-old ward is not a model patient. “We already experienced it in 2018, when severe mononucleosis came, which disabled her from all movement for four months, and there was a threat that she would no longer be able to do sports at all. At that time, I threw her out of the pool because she did not listen,” Škábová said. This time too, Seemanová tried to negotiate a moderate burden. “I was tough. I made it clear that under no circumstances,” the coach added.
