His father Tomasz Mendrek represented Czechoslovakia at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he made it to the second round. After 32 years, Adam Mendrek’s son will appear in the doubles pair with Ondřej Král at the Olympics in Paris, where Czech badminton will have the highest representation in history. He will send a total of four fighters.
How did he get into badminton and how hard is it to even make it to the Olympics in this sport? “Only 16 pairs made it to Paris, that in itself is a huge success,” says badminton player Adam Mendrek in an interview for Seznam Zprávy.
I assume that, like a true Czech boy, you played football or hockey. What have you tried?
Just nothing, not a single thing. From the beginning, from the age of six, I played badminton. The genes did not deny themselves. When my classmates took their bags with football boots or skates and headed for training, I wasn’t even with them because I was constantly traveling abroad. I guess there was no escaping it.
You really didn’t try to make fun of the family legacy?
A little yes, there was also a defiance against this predestination. I was born in Český Těšín, but my city is Brno in my heart and life. So I tried baseball for the famous Brno Dragons. I went for three weeks, then I stopped enjoying it. And then I also went to see taekwondo, but I dismissed that immediately after attending the first lesson. The sport that was at home won, i.e. badminton. There was no escaping it…
In the Czech Republic, this sport is one of the smaller ones. But in Asia it has followers in the hundreds of millions. How can one successfully face such a mass? Physical fund, or rather cleverness?
Above all, it has an incredibly wide base in China, it is estimated that around 200 million people actively play it. Quality grows out of quantity, they have a lot to choose from. There are always enough players to reach the world level. Otherwise, every sport at the professional level is a huge amount of hard work.
You went through the Chinese training process. How did this happen?
In the juniors in the 2012/2013 season, I placed first on the European rankings, the four of us were invited to a month-long camp in China at the national junior center. Together with me a Spaniard, a German and a Dane. It was very painful… Just an example: running up a thousand steps to the temple twice a day. That was challenging. Without the prayer at the top, I wouldn’t put here anymore. If someone survives such hard work, they are in the limelight. No one knows how many talents they eliminated with these doses. But at the same time a great experience. My first with an Asian preparation, then I got to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Alone. And it wasn’t easy. Everything was conducted in English, but the Chinese do not know it very well, so we had an interpreter. The camp resembled an army. Each day clearly lined up, one knew exactly what was coming next. He was either looking forward to it, or his stomach was in knots.
This year, the Olympic Games in Paris await you, where your participation is guaranteed to 99.9 percent. However, this is not a certainty. Do you admit that in the end you wouldn’t go at all?
I confess, I do not admit. I don’t know what would have to happen for it not to go. None of the scenarios that may arise do not eliminate us, cannot take our place. It will be officially confirmed on Tuesday, April 30.
But you will already be in China, in the city of Chengdu, at the Thomas Cup tournament, where the Czech national team qualified for the first time in history. How valuable is this tournament?
It’s a world championship for representative teams, the same as in football. The 16 best selections take part in it. Although France and then the Netherlands gave it up, it helped us a lot to participate, but it is still a huge prestige. It’s a great opportunity to compete against the best teams in the world.
The Czech team at the Thomas Cup consists of singles player Jan Louda and your doubles team with Ondřej Král. Together with Tereza Švábíková, all of them are to go to the Olympics, it will be the highest representation of Czech badminton in history. Does this mean that a strong generation has grown up?
On the contrary, she is still quite narrow. If someone gets hurt, there’s a hole that’s hard to patch. Among the younger ones, I see only two promising players, Petra Maixnerová and Lucia Krulova. It would be nice to sell the latest achievements to attract other interested parties.
When introducing the tournament, it is stated that 600 million households show interest in it. It is hosted by China, one of the biggest badminton powers, and will be attended by others such as Japan and Indonesia, together these three countries alone have a population of one and a half billion. When the World Ice Hockey Championship is held in the Czech Republic, half of the nation, i.e. some five million, watch it. Is half a billion not enough by Asian standards?
Interest will be huge. It is the second most popular sport in these Asian states after cricket. The best players are very popular and popular, like Jagr in our country or Messi in Argentina.
Taiwan is also participating in the championship. You know the relations between this island and China. Aren’t you afraid of some controversy?
I also wondered how it would be. I noticed that on the circuit, when a Chinese plays against a Taiwanese, it gets quite heated. They shake hands, but they go through it emotionally, they yell at each other. Now it will be on Chinese soil. I don’t know how they will take it. If the Taiwanese flag is unfurled. We’ll see.
Together with Ondřej Král, you form a strong doubles pair, but you both started out as singles, and you only teamed up in 2021. Do you consider this an advantage?
Rather yes. We have some habits and we use strikes that sometimes surprise the opponent. For example, a game of cross, it is almost not at all in doubles. They don’t expect her, it’s something completely different for them. Both are considered a team sport, but in badminton you can’t hide behind others. When you are bad, you can see it right away, it shows in the result.
In 11 weeks, you completed ten tournaments around the world. How can it be managed?
It was very difficult, probably the most difficult period in my career, I’m still recovering from it. We flew not only after time and against time, but also to the south and to the north, to different climates. They were shocks. Unlike tennis players who arrive three days before the tournament, we sit down and have to perform immediately. Collect points for the leaderboard. Constantly. There is no time to celebrate or analyze the results, they immediately fly elsewhere. Then when you fail, we read what kind of fools it was. But we have to manage it. We try to keep our time, but it is not easy. Fortunately, we survived it unscathed.
They say that when crossing time zones, it takes one day to adapt to one hour. You didn’t have that.
I’m glad to find out. I will be watching it more.
A logical question arises: Who pays?
The Ministry of the Interior, we are all its civil servants in the police force. As sports instructors, we prepare at the resort center in Pilsen. So we receive a normal salary. The badminton association also contributes to us. And we also have personal partners, sponsors.
It’s not easy, but it’s possible, I have to knock it. I am lucky to have loyal people from Brno. For some, there is an agreement that in case of participation in the Olympics, the performance will increase.
There are also rewards. For gold in Tokyo 2020, it was 2.4 million crowns, for silver 1.8 million, for bronze 1.4 million. And in case of triumph, a lifetime annuity.
So I don’t think in that direction at all. We are going to the Olympics, and anything extra will only be welcome. Only 16 couples made it to Paris, which in itself is a huge success.
Adam Mendrek
Born November 14, 1995, Český Těšín
2015 – Lithuanian International
2022 – Mexican International
2024 – Azerbaijan International
