FINA “Hero of the Day”: Katinka Hosszú
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The Hungarian super class swimmer won her first gold medal at the 17th FINA World Championships at Budapest.
The Iron Lady mentioned that she knows Duna Arena very well, she trains a lot here, but in the beginning it was quite hard to compete in front of the full Arena. Still it was an amazing feeling to win the gold medal, and it is really hard to say anything because of the atmosphere and the fans and the support they gave to her. She was asked what the crowd shouted out during the competition and she answered “Ria-Ria-Hungária”. She also told the journalists that she always wanted to be an Olympic champion, but in contrast with Rio last year, in Budapest this time she felt she was racing not only for herself. She did not expect such an amazing performance from the Japanese fellow swimmer, but it is always good to see young talents, they empower her and motivate her to be better and better. She could have entered the 100m backstroke also, but she did not want to risk this final, now after the competition, she is happy about that decision.
She was asked about her husband and coach, Shane Tusup, and she told without Shane she could not have reached this level, they achieved everything together. Her goal is not only to improve herself continuously but she wants to do more for the swimming society and for professional swimming because swimming could be interesting, not only at the Olympic Games. Typically, she is not completely satisfied with her performance, if she breaks the world record she might be. She could find some mistakes regarding her swim. But now, she has her first gold medal, she can enjoy more of the competition and the atmosphere from this time on. She also talked about the organisation she established with other swimmers, called GAPS (Global Association of Professional Swimmers). They would like to bring about changes regarding the operation of FINA and they are optimistic and excited about it, but they need of course time to do that.
She was asked about the world record, and she answered that the gold medal was more important for her than the record, therefore she paid more attention to the other swimmers, however usually her focus is her own performance while swimming.
