Jan Železný Recalls His First Olympic Gold In Barcelona

JAN ZELEZNY REMEMBERS HIS FIRST GOLD MEDAL IN BARCELONA’S OLYMPIC STADIUM

The three times Olympic gold medallist, who is visiting Barcelona to watch the Davis Cup Final, reveals that the javelin final in ́92 changed his life completely. In 2010 he will return as coach

Barcelona, 5 December 2009

Jan Zelezny has returned to Barcelona for the first time since he achieved the gold medal at the ́92 Games, the first one in his legendary career. Being considered the best javelin thrower of all time, Zelezny has been invited by the Czech tennis federation to watch the Davis Cup Final, where he shared his precious memories about the ́92 win during a visit of the Olympic Stadium Lluís Companys de Montjuïc accompanied by the Barcelona 2010 Media Team.

“I love this country and I really like Barcelona. It feels very good to be back. I remember that my first Olympic gold medal, achieved in this stadium, changed my life completely. It was the only competition when I was entirely sure that I was going to win the final”, explained Zelezny, who, being member of the International Olympic Committee, was wearing a blazer showing the Olympic rings. The Czech won that final with a 89.66 metres performance, more than three metres ahead of runner-up Seppo Raty and throwing six metres more than bronze medallist Steve Backley.

Next summer, Zelezny will return to Barcelona for the European Athletics Championships as coach of four Czech javelin throwers: Jarmila Klimesova, who has a personal best of 62.60 metres, Petr Frydrych, tenth at Berlin 2009 with a 84.96 personal best, Vitezslav Vesely and Jan Syrovatko. Besides coaching the athletes, the still World record holder is director of the athletics meeting in Ostrava, one of the most important European athletics meetings. “Last year we signed Usain Bolt. The stadium was packed, all tickets were sold out and over 4000 people were waiting outside not being able to get in”, summarises Zelezny proud.

Zelezny will get together with his pupils in Lanzarote’s Club La Santa on Monday, where they will stay until Christmas. In February, also following an old custom, he will take the athletes to a preparation camp in South Africa where they will stay for six weeks. “Being a coach is very time- consuming. As an athlete, I used to be less worried about things. Now I have to set an example. I am the first to arrive on track or the gym. I love athletics and really enjoy coaching the athletes”, said Zelezny with a smile on his face.

Curiously, the javelin throw legend never obtained a European title: back luck prevented him from shining at a European Athletics Championships, mostly due to injuries. Regarding next year’s Barcelona 2010, he is sure that “we will see a close contest between Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkämäki, who are the two world best javelin throwers at the moment.” He thinks that the
Norwegian athlete is stronger, but prefers to be cautious. He is more worried about the situation in general these days: “It’s a shame, but throwing 86 metres you almost have a medal assured today. That used to be very different back in the days”.

Jan Zelezny hopes that Barcelona 2010 will turn into a great success. He thinks that Spain has done quite much for athletics and “deserves to achieve good results at the European Championships” – and continued saying that – “Barcelona 2010 is a very important competition for the Spanish national team, who has good middle- and long-distance runners.”