Page 2/5 Artikel News Nr.8 24.02.2005
To take things step by step, not to jump the gun, to be prepared for set-backs - these are general recipes. But isn't this concentration on a goal, the Olympics in your case, also dangerous?
That was a brutal game against myself. Not without risk. On the one hand it was clear to me: When you manage it, then you've made it. But I also recognised - and my parents also helped me very much in this - that I mustn't allow my identity to be determined by whether I reach this one goal. Otherwise I would possibly have had to have seen myself as a loser. The public's expectations were not yet so high.
However, the Olympic Games brought about a break-through - now there are ever greater expectations for you too, as there are for skiers.
The expectations of outsiders are now in tune with my own, In the year 2000, if I had publicly said that I would be third, people would have thought I was mad. Things are different today, people expect an equally high ranking as I expect from myself. But I also have the backing of the entire public.
s long as you fulfil the expectations. A great deal of mental strength is required in order to cope with this level of expectation. Where does this strength come from?
It's important that swimming isn't actually the only thing that matters to me. And it's precisely because I didn't achieve an abrupt ascent, but rather a straight, trust-building one so to speak. It was only perceived differently by the public, according to the motto: He's shot to the top. That is exaggerated. In reality, progress is only made with many small steps.
And at some point, one also slides down again with small steps, not usually with a big bang. Are you unsettled by the unavoidable end of your success?
No, I know that by then I'll search for something else that I enjoy doing and that challenges me. I know from other sportsmen: If you believe yourself to be continually on the way down, then you'll drop out. That's why there's this talk of stopping when the time is right.
Is it the right time to search for other challenges when one is at the top of the present career?
It appears to me that the best moment is when one has reached all sporting goals. Many of my friends are still fighting to prove themselves to be something very different - which can easily lead to them becoming very rigid. I no longer need to prove so much to myself in terms of sport.
