For many years, Ondřej Moravec was your roommate at top events, now you are alone in the team from the older generation. Who are you rooming with in the Oberhof?
Alone, due to the threat of viruses, the trainers separated me. Over the past year, as I have been separated from the younger generation, we meet for meals and training sessions, and I am happy to have my peace and my schedule in my room. I’m used to it, it’s not unusual for me. For example, I lived with Mikys in France or Hochfilzen (by Tomáš Mikyská), I have no problem living with anyone from the team. But as we usually ride in five and one comes out as odd, I took over the baton from Boušek (to Michal Šlesingr).
Have you considered having your family come to Oberhof? It is close from the Czech Republic.
Not that. They were with me in Ridnaun for preparation, then we were at home together for four days and they will definitely arrive in Nové Město in Moravia. But they will have their own room, we will not be together. After all, only the little one has better and worse nights, so I don’t want it to unnecessarily affect my performance.
Are you trying to separate family and sports life?
Earlier, Romča came to see me (partner) usually to Nové Město na Morava and we lived together, that’s not a problem. But she didn’t wake me up at one in the morning and then she wasn’t awake for two hours. (smile)
The three of you spent last Christmas together at the Pokljuka concentration camp.
The concentration can be combined well, that’s why I wasn’t afraid to take them to Ridnaun for training. There, if the night is not optimal, it is not such a problem, even though we had prepared the option that I would sleep elsewhere so that the training would make sense. But I enjoyed it. I went to train, devoted an hour and a half to biathlon, which I then filtered out and devoted myself to my family. That recharged my batteries. Biathlon was a priority, but I didn’t spend my free time watching series or reading a book, like when I’m there alone, but I was with my family.
Even people from the biathlon environment say that thanks to the birth of a son, you no longer think only about sports and that it has benefited you…
I guess I have to agree with them. I can’t say if it’s just because I have a family, but I personally feel that my setup for the sport is completely different this year. I look forward to the races and I don’t worry about what will happen after that. And when I start to get stressed, my family helps me. I just say to myself, “Hey, it doesn’t matter anyway. You’ll be good or bad, and no one cares in two days anyway.” Even successes are terribly fleeting. I realized this when the younger generation came.
Very few of them perceive the career of Zdenda Vítek, for example, when he wore the yellow jersey. I am not talking about Ivan Masařík, who was fourth at the Olympics. There are a lot of athletes out there that are forgotten. And I also realized that there are much more important things and biathlon no longer has a prim. I worked on it as well (by mental coach) Petr Žídek, to be more relaxed and find a symbiosis between family and biathlon. Because when I was looking for inner peace for sports, I unnecessarily pushed some things to the extreme. Thanks to Viktor, I am calmer now.
Try to describe what you, for example, sponded to the extreme?
Sometimes I was an over-the-top perfectionist, which is what a top athlete should be, but I sometimes went too far. I’ll try to explain. For example, I had two hours to train and then I was completely stressed when it only lasted an hour and 58 minutes, that those two minutes were missing. And there were more trivial details like that, when I thought to myself: “Fuck, you have to follow it.” Now I see it differently. I discussed it a lot after last season with Ondra Rybář, how I should approach the sport. And he gave me his perspective on it as a coach and a person who experienced it with Jarda Soukup, Boušek and Ondra Moravec. So I tried to find my balance in it.
Did you talk about your setup with your former partners and fathers as well?
I didn’t talk to them about the setup because I saw it. I’ve trained with them and seen things that were set up well or things that seemed wrongly set up in that way of working. Rather, I went through it from the coach’s point of view, because he sees us the best. They have their composure on the range and they see our movements, our behavior, and that often says a lot more. From that point of view, the connection from Michal Málk or Matt Emmons is also important for me when we talk about it.
