Photo Credit: CEV
Source: CEV. While national authorities are lifting the measures introduced to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and sport is slowly resuming in a number of countries, we have caught up with the charismatic Czech Beach Volleyball star Marketa Slukova. Under ordinary circumstances, she would now be touring the world to finalise her preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, but the pandemic has brought competitive sport to a halt. Still, she has plenty of positive energy and good vibes to share, while waiting for some sort of normality to come back soon.
Slukova spoke to us from Los Angeles, where she somehow got stuck at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, after travelling to California with her husband-coach Simon Nausch and teammate Barbora Hermmanova to prepare for the start of the 2020 season in Mexico. The coronavirus eventually disrupted all of her plans, with many World Tour events cancelled and the Tokyo Olympics postponed until the summer of 2021.
‘Maki’, nevertheless, remains positive, even though she admits she needed some time to adjust to the circumstances and re-arrange her plans. “My wish was to focus on the Olympic season and possibly take a medal in Tokyo before turning my attention to my next big goal, which is to start my own family,” she said. “However, even though it takes more than one full year until the Olympics, I have been able to regroup and for sure I am going to stay around at least until Tokyo 2021. After that, I will focus on starting a family and maybe come back to Beach Volleyball after that. We will see, since I am yet to make up my mind to that extent.”
A two-time Olympian, Slukova acknowledges that her success has helped raise the profile of Beach Volleyball in the Czech Republic to unprecedented heights and she sees herself as some sort of a role model, hoping to inspire the next generation of Czech Beach Volleyball players. She especially cherishes memories of a highly successful 2018 season, when she and partner Hermannova won a number of World Tour events, including a home event in Ostrava and the Vienna Major, plus a bronze medal at EuroBeachVolley to receive the CEV’s award for the ‘Queens of the Beach’ of that year.
Slukova is a true champion of positivity and good vibes. If you watch the full video, you will find out more about her striking personality on and off the court as well as about her love for South Africa, a destination that seems to attract many elite Beach Volleyball players – for the sake of training under ideal conditions but not only…
Source:
CEV – European Volleyball
