The World Games silver medallist in Orienteering, Tereza Janosikova (CZE) took part in The World Games for the first time this year. She was amazed both by the organisation of the Games and by her own achievements there. She is Looking Back to Birmingham!
Janosikova started orienteering at the age of 14, but has been sporty all her life: “I played Basketball for seven years when I was a child. I always liked running, and this was obvious when I was playing Basketball. I was running with a ball all the time all over the court. Sadly, the team was slowly falling apart, and I was wondering what to do next. Running at an athletic stadium didn't attract me that much. It was in the year 2013 that I decided to try something new. There was a project called Orienteering for Schools. During a PE lesson we attended this project and I got into this sport. After a few weeks, I had the opportunity to do my first orienteering race.”
Orienteering is much more than running for Tereza Janosikova, who loves the challenges and the diversity of the sport: “Orienteering is an amazing outdoor sport, that requires navigation skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain while moving at high speed. As you probably can imagine, orienteering is a really special and varied sport.”
She explains: “We run several disciplines, from city sprints for 12-15 minutes through middle distances (35 minutes) to proper endurance long distances over 70 minutes. Also we have relay races – in the forest, and a sprint one as well, in our season. I love this diversity in a great community while discovering new places and chasing goals.”
Birmingham, Alabama 2022 was Tereza Janosikova’s first time at The World Games. “The whole experience of the Games was just nice,” she says, and continues: “I am grateful that I had a chance to take part in it, to travel to the USA and try my sport there. I was pleased with all the organisation and our orienteering courses. Even though I was deep down hoping for some great achievement, I have to admit that taking an individual medal already in the first race was still the biggest and nicest surprise of the Games, and I will always remember all the feelings and emotions which came together when I crossed the finish line!”
“The World Games is more diverse and much bigger than our World Championships. These take place in a smaller community where we have all known each other for some years. But at the same time we are probably staying more in our own national ‘bubble’, as each team usually has its own accommodation etc., so time for proper socialising comes for example just at the end of the championshipsafter all the races are over. This year during The World Games it was super nice that people were just meeting regularly in the canteen and could chat for a while.”
She also took her time to watch other sports when possible: “I was trying to fill up almost all of my free time during the TWG to follow some sports fitting into the schedule. We made it to the semi-finals of men’s Tug of War, a match of Korfball, some Lacrosse and at the end of the Games we caught the finish of Duathlon. I would love to have seen more, but our schedule with three races and extra training took quite a lot of time.”
After The World Games, Janosikova has continued her studies in Sport Sciences. “I successfully passed big final exams, covering all the knowledge gained throughout my studies, so now I am just missing the last step, finalising my Bachelor's thesis to get the diploma.” She will then apply for Master's studies abroad: “Fingers crossed that I can start my specialisation in Sport Psychology next year in Finland. At the same time, I am helping with some tasks for our International Orienteering Federation as an athlete’s representative,which is also a pretty nice experience.”
Tereza Janosikova got some questions from the fans on social media as well:
If you needed to compete in another sport at The World Games, what would it be?
If I needed to compete immediately in some other sport without proper preparation, then I would probably go for Duathlon as it is partly running-based, and I do some biking as well from time to time as an alternative to my running training. I can also imagine myself enjoying a lot of training and playing matches in Korfball, as it is slightly like Basketball which I used to play and love as a team sport, but for sure I would first need to learn all the rules.
How did you like Birmingham?
I love travelling and discovering new places, and visiting Birmingham was a cool experience which will stay in my travelling heart forever.
The best TWG memory?
There were many great moments. Besides winning the silver medal and all the emotions related to this, I much enjoyed watching some other sports, and all the atmosphere during the Closing Ceremony (I couldn’t participate in the Opening Ceremony) shared with other athletes and the audience was just epic!
What’s your goal for 2023?
Keep the balance in my life with a good training routine, and most of all hope to stay healthy and injury free. That`s always the most important, so then goals like a big podium placing, or even better in World Championships for example, can happen in ‘the easiest’ way. I will do my best for it! ;)
Say SOMETHING in Czech, please
Něco - means something in Czech ;)
What were your impressions of Birmingham?
Mostly positive ones. I was nicely surprised by all the organisation of The World Games. It was an amazing experience to be a part of this multi-sport international event, which felt even bigger as we were all kind of connected while staying on the same campus, meeting regularly whatever our sports field was, and we supported each other and shared the memories.
Will we see you in Chengdu at The World Games 2025?
I hope so!
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The World Games 2022 was held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and 100 countries took part in the Games. The 12th edition of The World Games will be held in Chengdu, CHN in 2025.
