Swimming: You have to fool yourself – Katinka Hosszú

– Compared to the swimming test in February, this Katinka Hosszú is different somehow – it's not the time results that matter this time, but your condition. What's changed in this month?
– I was "coming back" at the time. It takes time to get back to the level I was at before. Plus, and I always say that my preparation has been built on continuous racing for years, and I haven't had a lot of competitions for a long time. The training camp in Tenerife was a success which is also a part of the month we've left behind," Katinka Hosszú told our portal.

– Is it physically or mentally more difficult to get back to where you were before?
– In that case, the two go hand in hand. Of course, you have to train your physique, but in a situation like this, quality swimming and trainings are hard. It's enough if you just lower the bar a little bit, which is easy to run into during the pandemic, because you don't have the tingling feeling that “Oh, my God, this, then that competition is coming up.” This changed situation can make us lazier – for example, I who isn't used to it, became one. Time passed, and I went to the swimming pool and the gym, and I did everything, but that's not enough: you have to do that daily 10-15 kilometers of swimming and training very, very well to be the best in the world!

– So, it's hard mentally because you have to keep believing that it's worth doing?
– You have to fool yourself, believe that you have to do everything very well, even if everything in the world is uncertain. It's not that easy, especially when you often wonder whether there will be competition or not, when there are much bigger problems in the world. But we, athletes have to rule that out.

– A lot of people would've given up if they were in your shoes.
– Yes, letting go of something may be easier, but I'm quite stubborn. Once I'd decided to go to the Tokyo Olympics, I wouldn't want to give up that decision. The previous year, though, changed my thinking a lot, and I think it's having a positive effect on my swimming as well. I've never considered swimming as a matter of life and death; I just loved doing it. And I still do, and I'm so grateful to the sport and this environment that while the pandemic is raging, we're able to host a national championship. Sure, time matters, and I'd prefer if the clock didn't show the time of 4:42 after the 400 medley, but it was more important to me that I could be at the national championship and could swim. I'm sure I'd be lost right now, especially if it wasn't for swimming, the daily routine, that we could plan, that we could set goals and work for them. It helps a lot that there's far less uncertainty in the sporting world than elsewhere.

– It's thing you mentioned a specific time, so it might be easier to ask. Writing about Katinka Hosszú and 4:42 isn't easy but being in this story is a lot harder because that's not the kind of time we're used to. Are you patient enough with yourself?
– Yes, I think so. But like I said, I have a much stronger feeling of how good it is to be here, to be able to swim – I really enjoy it! Just like I'm enjoying the journey I'm on right now – it's a whole new situation for me. It's only secondary what will happen in Tokyo, if there will be Olympics, and if so, where I will finish. I'm here, I'm doing it, I'm pushing!

– Can you even think about the Olympics?
– I can, and most of the athletes do too. We all try to question the Olympics as little as possible.

– And if Tokyo, then 200 and 400 medley?
– Definitely. We'll have a European Championship in May where a lot of things can be revealed. By the way, we can also be grateful for the European Championship in Budapest because I'm glad that we don't have to travel in this situation. I often wonder what happens when the Olympics is held, we travel to Tokyo, and someone tests positive there. Certain sports' world events had been held, but the Olympics is different in this regard.

– What will you say if there's no Olympics?
– Something like “Oh, well.”

– For now, though, you're still preparing for the race. Are you watching the potential opponents as well?
– Of course, I'm roughly aware where everybody is. I also know that if I do my best on that day, in the most important heat, then everything is fine.

– Is there enough time before the Olympics to make that happen?
– We'll see in the summer! In sport, basically, we shouldn't talk about what's realistic, because must do something that doesn't seem like it at first.

Translated by Vanda Orosz