I think having a baby can help
Serena Williams
--------------------------------
Seven years ago, Katinka Hosszú (34) was Iron Lady.
I am referring to the 2017 Budapest Swimming World Championships, the Iron Lady World Championships.
(They were also Mireia Belmonte's World Cups: she collected one gold and two silvers at the Duna Arena).
In those days, I spent a few days walking along the banks of the Danube, narrating the exploits of Katinka Hosszú. What a merchandising festival!
Everything revolved around him, around Iron Lady.
Hungary, at your feet.
Documentaries and comics shared their adventures with us. Like the characters from DC Comics or Marvel, Iron Lady was a kind of superheroine who saved the world. From the shelves of the stalls, plastic figures looked at us, like the Playmobil Clicks: there were Iron Lady and Shane Tusup, then her coach and her husband. The shopkeepers offered us scarves and caps. Portrayed on tablecloths and napkins, she smiled at us, Katinka Hosszú.
Katinka Hosszú was the goddess of that Budapest. Then...
Then Iron Lady broke up with Tusup, plunged into a carousel of coaches and doubts, and her performance declined.
And then, seven months ago, she had Camilia, her baby.
–I still feel like Iron Lady, although in a different way. Being a mother has changed me. I am now Iron Mother. By the way, excuse me, I'm putting the baby to sleep, she tells me.
(It's six o'clock).
And from the phone, I get their laughter.
He is spending six and a half months under the sun of the Canary Islands, in the training centers of magnificent Lanzarote, swimming in the pool of the La Santa club, telling himself that yes, he will arrive in Paris 2024.
(And even further: he reminds me that he has already won 97 international medals, including Games, World Cups and Europeans, and that he wants to reach a hundred, something that no one has done, not Michael Phelps, nor Katie Ledecky).
–And what do you do in the Canary Islands?
–I have the family here: my husband (Maté Gelencsér, his physical trainer), the baby, my mother-in-law... I am getting in shape, I feel that everything is in order. And I'm happy: this island relaxes me, it allows me to focus only on training – she tells me.
–Isn't that like that in Budapest?
–There I have too many commitments, I always find something to do.
–But will your baby allow you to prepare thoroughly?
–Every day I'm getting better. I didn't know what to expect when having the baby. Obviously, no one knows until they have it. But today I feel complete, much more than with my Olympic medals (she has three titles in her history, those from Rio 2016).
-Oh really? Doesn't Camilia take up your time?
–A few years ago, when I was focused on competing, I never thought I would be prepared to go to the Games as a mother. I always believed that she wouldn't have time or be focused. I imagined having a baby would be crazy, but now that I have it I don't see it that way. I just need to adjust my schedule. It's crazy because it would be my sixth Games, yes.
(In a few weeks, Katinka Hosszú will return to Hungary to compete in the Hungarian Championships and look for her Olympic place: she says she aspires to compete in four events).
–If you had known, would you have been a mother sooner?
-I'm not sure. I think this has been the right time. But I hope that other athletes become mothers sooner, and that they do it to show that you can be a mother and be competitive in sport.
–Are you convinced that it is possible?
–During pregnancy, the body changed radically. And that worried me, because it's my tool to work with, right? But it's been seven months and I feel really strong. I am halfway through this journey, I started training on my first trip to Lanzarote, in mid-December, but I see that the body recovers its shape very quickly.
–And what happened to the body?
–I gained a lot of weight. It was normal: before pregnancy, I trained between six and ten hours a day. A crisis came, I lost a lot of muscle mass and gained a lot of fat.
–Do you think your great years will return?
–I train differently: I incorporate more quality and fewer meters. If before I swam fifteen kilometers a day, now it is ten or twelve. It's less than before, although I hope it's enough.
