Sarah Sjöström opts out of gold chances in this year’s Olympics.
Now she tells why.
– I came to training and felt that I just couldn’t take it, I quit, says Sjöström.
Ever since her breakthrough at the age of 14, Sarah Sjöström has dominated and broken record after record. She has had a rare ability to be at her very best when it matters most, which is why many were surprised by her decision ahead of this year’s Olympics.
Drastic decision
In both the Olympics in London and Rio in 2012 and 2016, she competed in four individual disciplines. Most recently, in Tokyo three years ago, she lined up in three. Over the years, there have been a mind-boggling 95(!) medals during international championships, and during the WC 2019 she made history as the first female swimmer ever to win five individual medals. But it won’t be like that in the Paris Olympics.
From the beginning it only looked like Sjöström would compete in one event – 50 meter freestyle – but now it looks like she will also compete in the 100 meter freestyle. And all the talk about which distances or not she chooses to compete in makes her “annoyed”.
– Sometimes I can get annoyed that there is such a focus on what I swim, she tells TT.
“I felt like I was quitting”
At the Olympics, the 50 meter butterfly is not included, and she opts out of the 100 meter butterfly because she has “won everything and broken the world record a thousand times”. She already made the decision to go down in distances in 2022, and she felt compelled to do so.
– I came to training and felt that I just couldn’t take it, I quit. I’m going home. I was so damn unmotivated, the kind of thing everyone goes through in elite sports. It wasn’t the first time I felt that way, it was just really hard and boring, she says.
Sarah Sjöström has made the change partly to keep her motivation up, but also because she has the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 in her sights.
– My body can’t handle it for any number of years, says Sjöström.
And it is not a decision she regrets, or finds difficult.
– I got to a point where it was still fun, but not as important for me to perform. In the past, I’d felt like I’d get mad if I didn’t win. Now I was happy anyway. Then you know you’re done, she says.
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