Gold in Paris is the goal, but Erica Medvetsky, who is back as a mother, is only planning until the qualifiers.

The fourth Olympic kayaker and eight-time world champion finished fourth with Tamara Sipes in the K-2500m at the Tokyo Games. The FTC athlete announced in November 2022 that she is looking forward to the joys of motherhood, so she will put her professional career on hold for a while. Oliver was born in April, and she is now preparing again with two training sessions a day. “The return was more difficult than I expected, as recovering from the caesarean section was more difficult for me, but after that I was able to return to daily training mentally and physically faster than expected.” The 35-year-old athlete told M1.

For Erika Medvitsky, the 2024 Olympics in Paris is the long-term goal, but there is still a long way to go before then, so for now she is just preparing for selections. “I and the others have to show performance in May and June that can be used to fight for the right to go to the Olympics. We have specific plans until May, and we tried to make short-term plans to see how the comeback will go, and where we are, and we set small goals about when and where we should go.” “Almost there. We’re still at the beginning, so that will be a deciding point when we have to get in the water and how we will be able to accelerate in April, so that I know the pace of the competition, which is essential so that we can compete in the Olympic Games.” – said the kicker, who added that last year was very good for him, when he was able to move away from elite sport a little.

After finishing fourth in Tokyo, he felt lost and according to him, if he won a gold medal there, his comeback would be irrelevant now. He is mostly motivated by the fact that he managed to qualify for next year’s Olympics, achieve a result there, and then get out of the boat satisfied. “A gold medal is what gets everyone going. Fourth place is a very nice result if someone is expecting sixth place, but Tamara and I wanted to achieve a better result, and based on our previous results, winning a medal was not an unrealistic expectation.”

In consultation with Federal Captain Csaba Hüttner, they decided that he should prove himself in the singles and if he achieved a good result, the team boat could also be discussed. He wants to start with as many numbers as possible in qualifying, and if he can qualify, he wants to start with those numbers at the Paris Olympics, which will certainly be the last of his career. “I don’t think I’ll be rowing for another four years.” he added.

Hungary has four quotas at next year’s Paris Olympics in women’s rowing, and the remaining two quotas could be taken at additional World Cup qualifiers in Szeged in May.