Czech star Josef Dostal has revealed the reason behind his motivation to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, insisting he will do it “for mum”.
Dostal made his Olympic dream come true in Paris last year when he powered to the men’s kayak single 1000m title.
Watching on from the packed stands that day was his proud mum, Eva Emingerova-Dostalova.
As well as being a talented jazz singer, Emingerova-Dostalova is a former top-level athlete that had ambitions of competing at the Olympic Games.
Emingerova-Dostalova represented her country in volleyball on the European and world stage but the chance to play at the Games eluded her following the Soviet-led boycott of LA 1984.
Four decades later, her son, a five-time Olympic medallist, now has the opportunity to compete for glory in LA.
View this post on Instagram
“Getting to the Olympic Games is a dream for a lot of athletes,” said Dostal.
“Having a medal almost feels unbelievable.
“That’s my family’s way of thinking.
“My mum used to play indoor volleyball.
“But because of the boycott she didn’t compete in LA 1984 so I will be there hopefully for mum.”
Dostal had to make a series of sacrifices in the lead-up to Paris 2024 having lost five kilograms of weight.
It was a huge effort, but Dostal said he was ready to go through the same fitness regime in his pursuit of success in three years’ time.
“Now I know what I need to do to prepare my body to perform at my best, I will try to repeat it for Los Angeles 2028,” said Dostal.
“It’s a lot of sacrifices that I don’t want to do every year but for the Olympics I could do that again, definitely.”
As well as winning Olympic gold, Dostal was crowned world champion in the men’s K1 500m in a stunning 2024.
Dostal has played down his chances of repeating his success at this year’s International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy as he looks to steadily ramp up the intensity of his training in the build-up to LA28.
“As I haven’t been training that much this autumn, I gained some weight which I know is hard to get rid of,” said the 31-year-old.
“I am not expecting to be winning the World Championships in 1000m which is the Olympic distance.
“I started paddling in late November.
“My times are not bad if I have got to compare them with the previous years, not just last year where it was extremely good.
“I will do my best to compete and to enjoy kayaking for the next one or two years and then start to take it seriously again.”
Dostal insisted his journey to the Olympic gold demonstrated his refusal to never give up on his dream.
Having picked up bronze at London 2012, a silver and a bronze at Rio 2016 and another bronze at Tokyo 2020, the Olympic title looked like it might elude Dostal.
But the Czech paddler’s perseverance paid off as he emerged victorious in Paris – a triumph that saw him voted as Czech Athlete of the Year, beating Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
“It’s not just about winning the Olympics, it’s all about the story of participating in the Olympic Games for 12 years trying to reach your dream,” added Dostal.
“Having been so close every time, still not achieving that goal, some people might think ‘I have achieved enough’.
“But I thought ‘let’s try to be better and not satisfied with the results that I already had’.
“That was always pushing me more.”
Related links
