Hard to overestimate the role Justyna Kowalczyk played for the sport of cross country skiing this century. Fantastic results on the tracks made it clear that talented and committed athlete even from non-skiing nation could win, repeatedly and convincigly. Justyna’s openness and polite directness made her a true household name in Poland and well beyond that.
With the athletes of the statute and the recognition of Ms.Kowalczyk it is common to retire with a directorship on the board of some large corporation, to land a lucrative contract on television and to sell the book rights. In other words – to exploit well-deserved fame
Yet Justyna Kowalczyk is still on the ski tracks, in remote training camps, freezing by the side watching “her girls”, the group she and her coach Alexander Wierietielny assembled, compete.
We absolutely wanted to know Why. And also How, What and When.
Here’s our conversation that we, as normally do, will split into several parts. Here’s a Part I:
The time has come for me to retire from the top level skiing. The decision was taken before the Pyeongchang Olympics and I thought “how do I transfer my experience – and sponsors – to young girl-skiers”? I approached the coach ( Alexander Wierietielny) – but he initially said no – he felt tired and wanted to retire. “ Justyna, I hardly have strength to start again from the very beginning” he told me. It is complicated to work with very, very young ones when you used to manage grown-up, experienced athletes.
And I told him “Let’s do it for a year or two – and see how the things are going. If they are not going well – well, we’ll quit.”
But there is Alexander Wierietielny who achieved results with Justyna Kowalczyk
– and they shall get there
End of Part I
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