Who Am I?
Do you know the butterfly effect?
Do you sometimes wonder how a small, insignificant event can bring completely unexpected life changes over a longer period of time? My life turned upside down.
When I brought home a slip with an application for a swimming class in 1999, my parents laughed at me. They had tried to teach me to swim with total failure and now I wanted to join a swimming class? “Ha! Sabi, don’t forget your armbands!” they said.
In 2002, I participated in my first National Junior Championship, in 2006 at the European Junior Championship, I broke junior records in 50m and 100m butterfly, and in 2009 I qualified for the World Championship and broke Czech adult records. My parents swelled with pride while my coach desperately tried to tame my hyperactivity.
Swimming was my everything, a ticket to “being somebody”, to make others “respect me”, to feel like I wasn’t completely “useless”, just the “class clown”. Friendships were limited to school and swimming, I never went out in the evenings, weekends were full of competitions, free time didn’t exist, but I was fine with it, I sacrificed everything and pursued my dreams. I was blazing a thorny trail and moralizing along the way about what’s allowed and what’s not right.
And then in 2009 came the blow – doping accusations, a finding in my urine, two years banned. My world collapsed – me, who had condemned all dopers and smokers, had doping in my body? I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t be resolved, that it wasn’t a mistake, surely they would call me to say they were wrong. But unfortunately, I learned what presumption of guilt means, the origin of that substance was never discovered, and I was left with the greatest injustice of my life, which still makes a lump in my throat today.
Coach Luther Jones pulled me out of my delirium; he believed in me, offered his hand, and we worked like dogs despite the competition ban. As team SPSw, we made it back to the top in 2013. I touched gold at the Czech Championship again, this time in freestyle, and fought my way back to qualify for the World Championship in Barcelona, where I experienced the greatest vindication of my life.
I did it! Especially for myself.
Throughout all this, I studied swimming coaching at FTVS UK, and the 3FIT swimming school began to take shape. Thanks to the many clients who passed through my hands, I was able to think about technique more deeply than just “this is how it’s done”, to notice subtleties and explain them logically and physically.
After satisfying my desire for the World Championship, I left the team and began training completely on my own. I had to listen to my body and constantly find inner motivation. In 2016, I brought home a gold medal from the European Masters Championship in 50m freestyle!
Even with minimal training, I won over others thanks to technique, feel for the water, awareness, and “being present in training”.
And I try to pass all this on, to share experiences, aha-moments, dead ends, and the best paths.
It was an obstacle course that directed my life, calmed my hormones, taught me humility, responsibility, and determination. And hundreds of my clients helped me with all this, supporting me from the beginning, developing my personality and coaching skills, pushing me to places I wouldn’t have gone alone. A big thank you to all of you!
Let’s go!
Sabina Dostálová