Paris 2024: Canada surprisingly reaches women's rugby final

– World title in February, Olympic gold in August – how did you do it?
“They held the atmosphere and the Olympics in the same year, that’s it,” said Krzysztof Rasowski with a smile, then began to answer more seriously: “We prepared for this.” The goal was to be the best in Paris, and although we were in good shape at the World Championships, the Olympics were obviously the main competition, and since last September we had been working to make sure everything went well there.

“It went well.”
– Everything came together: the favorable competition conditions, the excellent preparation, the calm of the last weeks, that is, everything came together, and my teammates proved to be at an ideal level as well. When everything came together, I took the initiative on the Seine. I had wanted to compete for weeks, and I couldn't wait for the day to come. I had a long idea of ​​how I wanted to swim this way, there was no doubt in my mind about it – to go ahead, to swim as fast as possible. As much as possible.

– When you won your first gold medal in the 10km World Championships in Hungarian swimming in Doha, didn't some say you had fired the gunpowder before Paris?  
– I didn't hear such comments, but if I had, I wouldn't have dealt with them either, because we knew I still had them inside me. It's more than what I showed in Doha, and it's already been proven that he can be an Olympic champion who won the event before him. This is no longer the era where one can swim well only once a year – one can do it many times.

– In other words, it is now certain: they made a good decision when they participated in all the major competitions.
– I can only hope so, because the decision is only confirmed later, whether it is good or not. All our decisions were good for us: the fact that we were there in the competition, the fact that we started at the European Championship in Belgrade, the fact that I surpassed the pool records in Paris.

– As for the numbers: Did you really calm down when you got the starting number nineteen?
“Nineteen is actually the number of victory and success, but I was calm even before that.” I wasn’t particularly nervous: I had been preparing for months so that it wouldn’t be a burden to strike Paris with a piece of silver in Tokyo to exclude me and who and what was expected of me in that regard. I knew that if I pushed myself, and gave it my all, I wouldn’t be disappointed even if I didn’t make it to the podium.

– After reaching the finish line at the World Championships in Doha, he told French classicist Marc-Antoine Olivier, after he had declared that he wanted to win on home soil at the Olympics, that he wouldn’t mind if he won, if they were both medalists. Many people were surprised by his statement, as he had just won a gold medal.
“But I would have been really satisfied with any medal.” It’s a bad Hungarian perception that we only value gold, only the championship title. I wonder if that will ever go away from the public’s mind…

“But you still made it to the top in Paris.”
“I won’t regret it, but if the bronze medal was mine, I certainly wouldn’t have been chasing the winner crying to give me the gold medal…”

– When you reached the finish line at the end of the ten kilometers, was it normal not to start celebrating?
– I went back, I was interested in who else was coming to the platform next to us, plus my teammate, my friend, was there in the stadium, of course I was watching where he was swimming. And when I saw that he had a chance to get the bronze medal, I started cheering him on. One of the best moments of that day was being able to celebrate Bethlehem with David.

“It's a wonder your friend's hand isn't broken…”
– When we fell into the water, that was my first thought, I didn't know if it was okay for him to put his hand under my back. Fortunately, he escaped unharmed.

– Can we declare Veszprém a miracle workshop?
“Excellent, that's for sure.” Laci bá (László Szokolai – ed.) thinks a lot about how to build the season, the lead-up to the competition, and treats the three of us in three ways, but our fitness coach, Attila Kuruc, also treats Zalan Sarkány, David Bethlehem and me in a different way. We couldn't have had more or better from them. And Laci bá is very good at carrying our cheerful side.

“But you say that so kindly!” Although they are humble and hardworking in the water, they can become “fools” on the beach.
“I don’t deny it.” If there is time and opportunity, Lassie Ba is not against this fun either, and when it comes time to work, she always asks us to put this side of us aside – when we complete the tasks, we can do it again.

– Although we found out before the Olympics that Paris was not the final destination, the five-ring gold medal still raises the question: Will there be a sequel?
“I stand by what I said a few weeks ago. “I still have the love for swimming and the will to continue. I don’t know for how long, the next few years will decide that. I don’t want to talk about Los Angeles either, I haven’t done that yet, and I certainly won’t do that after Paris – we’ll see how I can handle continuing physically and mentally. I only do it when it makes sense. I don’t want to be in the top 20 or many in competitions.