World of O News
– It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am really happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream, Dana Brozkova says in this interview. Her Gold medal at the World Orienteering Champs at home ground in Olomouc was immensely popular among the home crowd – and a great achievement by an athlete who has improved year by year with this Champs as a goal. Below Brozkova is presented for the nomination “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.
About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.
Interview with Dana Brozkova
Give a short presentation of yourself.
I started with orienteering when I was 11. For a long time orienteering was for me only fun with a map, training once a week and some small competitions. I started with regular training at around 18 years. At the age of 20 I won the gold medal in JWOC. For university studies I choose medicine, it was a little bit tough to combine training and studies, but orienteering was a good relaxation. My vision was to stay in top orienteering till the WOC in Czech Republic 2008, because of that I have decided to continue with studies as a postgraduate student (to have enough time for training and traveling to competitions and training camps). Today I am in the second year of postgraduate studies and I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010, then I will see:) I came from Rovensko, the small village in the north of Czech republic, but I am living now for 8 years in Prague.
What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
It was definitely the world champs in Olomouc. This world champs was special, because it was in my home country and a great chance to succeed. The whole Czech team focused the training a lot on the WOC in Czech Republic. It was a great chance, but there was also a big pressure from myself and from the fans. I am happy that I managed to win the gold medal. It was like a dream!
I want to train and stay on the top level until WOC 2010
What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
I am surprised. My gold medal from WOC is great, but I know about better and more successful orienteers.
What are your main goals for the future?
The WOC in Hungary will be the top goal for next year, I would like to win another medal. But I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun.
Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
Every kind of terrain is special in other way. Next season will be interesting NOM in Finnland and I enjoyed terrains in France near Le Caylar during the Czech team training camp.
Can you describe your toughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
I am not sure, if this is the toughest but my training week composed of 3 hard trainings and the rest 4 days are middle or slow run for 60-70 minutes. The 3 hard trainings are long run in terrain for 95 minutes, the 8x 3 minutes to the steep hill, and 5x 1km. The 95 minutes run is special training for the long distance and the run to the hill was also special for this World Champs ( and will stay for the long in Hungary as well :)
I need to find my motivation again and start to do orienteering for the fun
Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
I study the postgraduate studies, it is like 50% work and I can organize my time. The running takes 300- 350 hours per year, together with other training it takes 350 – 400 hours per year.
In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I prefer running in the forest, that is also why my PB is not so good, 10:21 for 3000m.
