If she didn't know where she was going, she wouldn't get there. She plans ahead, makes quick decisions, and there was never a question for her about which was more important: elite sports, studies, or family. Each, but in her own time. We spoke with Ágnes Kovács, an Olympic champion swimmer, PhD student, university lecturer, and motivational trainer.

The air in my lungs tightens for a few breaths. I think of the list that begins like this: Olympic champion, two-time world and seven-time European champion, multiple World Cup winner, perpetual Hungarian champion. She was the athlete of the year four times, the Hungarian swimmer of the year seven times, and was voted the best female athlete in Europe several times.

With such results, it's impossible to breathe easy, it's dizzying to write about and read. She earned the first of her three degrees in Arizona in marketing and communication, and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Physical Education. He is writing his dissertation on the relationship between elite athletes and the media, and he laughs at the times when journalists chased him around the pool to make statements. He found his second profession in teaching, he opened his swimming academy last year, and for the sake of completeness, he not only teaches, but also holds motivational trainings for companies.

 

Learning is not an option, it is necessary!

 

-     Let's start with the latest, England. You were recently in Chichester, where you were invited as a guest lecturer at the university to give a class on motivation and success, while also collecting data for your PhD thesis.

-      This was not my first professional trip abroad, because I have been working in the International Department of the University of Physical Education for years, so I have given lectures abroad several times. This time about how to perform at your best under pressure and how to stay properly motivated to achieve our goals. It feels great to stand on the lectern at a foreign university and give a lecture in a language other than my native language.

 

-     What usually motivates you?

-      I am success-oriented, I am motivated by several things at once. In elite sports, I have achieved everything I planned, but even when I was a teenager, studying was important. Now, at almost 34 years old, I feel more and more how good it is that I trained alongside sports. Obviously, if you are in the swing of things and are preparing for the Olympics as an athlete, you can easily think, along with your coach and parents, that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that you should only focus on this. I would not have been able to do it.

 

-     In addition to studying, how many hours a day did you train?

-      Six hours a day. Looking back, it was a very tough time. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and didn't get home until 7 in the evening.

 

-     Was there anyone who talked me out of studying in favor of sports?

-      I was lucky because I didn't. I'll tell you a story that shows how important both were in my life. At the age of 17-18, I knew exactly that in that school year, the high school diploma would be a priority compared to sports, but it couldn't come at the expense of it, since we were preparing for the European Championships. However, I wanted to continue my studies, that was one of my goals. I decided not to go to training camp. Maybe my coach (László Kiss – ed.) didn't agree with this then and there, but he knew me. He knew that if he didn't let me, my Olympic participation would come later. So they left, and I stayed. Of course, this didn't mean that I didn't train, it was just that while the others were preparing in South Africa, I was in Kőbánya. I also knew that after the high school diploma, I would have to prepare even harder for the competition. I graduated with flying colors, there were still two months until the competition. My coach was relieved, and the proper preparation could finally begin, when the next day I slipped on the steps in the swimming pool and my foot was so tight that I couldn't stand on it. Complete panic. What can you do in a situation like this? I had to build on this situation, I had to get up from this. I couldn't train with my legs, only with my arms, so it took a few days, but I finally got better. We went to Istanbul, which ended up being one of the most successful competitions of my life, I became a three-time European champion.

 

I came from America...

 

-     And two years later you announced that you were going to America to study.

-      My life was already sealed long before, at the Atlanta Olympics. That's where I decided what I wanted. I liked the environment, the Olympic village and the swimming pool, which was on the university campus, so much that I decided two things on the spot: if I could win a bronze medal at the age of 15, I would like to win gold at the next Olympics.