Olympic Medal Hopes Are Strong For Serbia’s Kayak Sisters
As the clock counts down to less than one hundred days until the spectacular opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, athletes worldwide will be refocusing their sights for the final push. Among tens of thousands of Olympic hopefuls three young Serbian women will be hoping that their own Olympic dreams will be played out on the waters of Eton. If all goes well, they might even brush shoulders with some of their heroes, too.
Belgrade-based sisters Nikolina (21) and Olivera Moldovan (22) and their teammate Antonija Nadj (25) were among the first to guarantee their places on the Serbian Olympic Team for London 2012, when they qualified at the championships in Hungary, last August. They will compete in the K4 500m challenge in London, with entry into the K1 and K2 500m contests still to be determined.
“We have chance to compete in all these but it will depend on the race schedule,’ their trainer explained. “We will decide after the ICF World Cup in Moscow in June. We will know where we are strongest and have the best chance of making the final and having a shot at medals.”
Maintaining focus on the goal of gold has been key to their rigorous training regime, the three athletes told W!LD RooSTeR over cake at a Belgrade café. “This year we had very good results so we are expecting to get into the grand final and will get a medal in London,’ said Antonija. “We are just not sure which medal. Our men’s team should get a medal too. We can feel the hopes of Serbia behind us, which is encouraging if also adding some pressure.”
But success does not come easily in sport and competing at Olympic level demands dedication, commitment and determination. Like many in their field, these three have been undertaking strict training since September. Until mid January, they were focussed primarily on power training and building strength, with a combination of gym work and stamina drills. Since then, they moved from their usual facilities in Belgrade to in-boat training at lakes on Serbia’s Tara mountain and in Cyprus. “We need to train hard and then train even more if we are going to win medals in London,’ said Nikolina. “We are going all the way in London, not just into the finals but on to the medal podium.”
In the final run up to London 2012, the girls are focussed on June’s European Championships in Zagreb, when they will be able to check that they are on course for London. All being well, they will hold aloft the gold medals they believe are within their grasp, their trainer explained. And it is looking good so far: Nikolina and Olivera recently won bronze in the 200m two-person kayak race at the World Cup in Poland.
Not everything is positive, though. When the team was in Britain for an official test event at the London 2012 Olympic kayak course near Eton, they did not like what they found, the team’s trainer explained. “We did not have good experience there,’ he said. “We saw that the wind is very strong on the course,’ he said. “Lanes one, two and three suffer greatly from effects of strong wind. It is not good for races. The wind is very strong pushing into their chest so they cannot go very fast. This was seen in the results, with speeds maybe four seconds slower. But nothing can be done at this stage. We have to work with it and hope for the best lanes. We believe that the organising committee will do everything they can to make it work.”
London 2012 kayak events will take place on Dorney Lake, a 2,200m, eight-lane competition course built to international standards at the Eton College Rowing Centre. The course was shown to be the best in the UK and one of the best in Europe, when Dorney Lake successfully hosted the Rowing World Championships in 2006. Facilities have been upgraded to better cater for Olympic athletes, including the addition of capacity for up to 30,000 spectators daily.
Competitors will be housed in student accommodation at Royal Holloway College, 16km from the lake. Unsurprisingly, Antonija, Nikolina and Olivera say that they would rather be in Stratford, but apparently their schedule and facilities at the Olympic Village do not allow for that. “We dreamed of being at the heart of the Olympics, with all the other competitors at the Village in Stratford,’ said Antonija.
“We wanted to be among all the excitement and mixing with athletes from other sports – like Usain Bolt– but obviously that has not been possible. We just wanted to be part of the electric feel of the London 2012 Olympics.”
Their disappointment does not stop there. As it stands, these three young hopefuls might not even attend the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, due to their training schedule, which keeps them away from the capital. However, every effort is being made by organisers and the Serbian Olympic Committee to include as many competitors as possible in the Opening Ceremony, even though some will leave for training camps and accommodation outside of London immediately after.
To get this far in sport takes determination and commitment. Before realising their love of water sports, each of these girls enjoyed other activities. Karate was the sport for Antonija before she watched her older brother competing at kayaking and thought, “I’d like a piece of that action”. Her natural competitive streak was exposed and, pretty soon, Antonija had outshone her brother. She became hooked on competing at the Olympics after watching Athens 2004 on TV. When she picked up gold at the European Championships in 2006, her commitment to stepping up on the podium at London 2012 was reinforced. It was dance that was the preferred choice for sisters Nikolina and Olivera, before they moved to compete in kayaks in 2001.
As competitors in an expensive sport and with busy commitments pulling in all directions, life has not always been easy for Antonija, Nikolina or Olivera. “It is an expensive sport and training facilities are not always good here so we have to go to warm places to train during the winter,’ said Olivera. “But we have the support of our national sporting federation and the Minister of Sport. Without that, we might not have come this far.”
Added to those challenges, the three chose to continue their studies. But thanks to the backing of family, trainers and teachers, they have been able to juggle the demands of sport and study. “Our professors understand and help us,’ said Nikolina. “We compete at an international level and we are away from home a lot. They understand our situation. They give us books and we are always in touch with them. They make it possible for us to succeed at both study and sport.
Unfortunately, costs and commitments mean it will not be possible for families or boyfriends to visit the girls in London this summer. No doubt they will be watching from home, waving their flags and cheering as Antonija, Nikolina and Olivera battle to make their country proud and bring home a medal.
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