Olympic Javelin Champion Andreas Thorkildson

Norwegian Javelin Thrower Andreas Thorkildson Discusses What It Takes to be an Olympic Champion and the sacrifices he makes.

 

Andreas Thorkildson seeks his second Olympics championship after winning the Men's Javelin at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. The Olympics Gold Medalist is also the European champion (2006), and twice silver medalist at the World championships. Heading into the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he is leading the IAAF world ranking in the javelin throw.

Norwegian Olympic javelin medalist Andreas Thorkildson says that in addition to training hard, luck will also play a big part in defending his Olympics title in Beijing in August.

On the sacrifices he makes

"When you win a gold medal there is no sacrifice I think, there’s not many things I consider as sacrifice I just choose a way, it’s just I want to reach this goal and I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing stuff I just choose something instead of the other so it’s like everybody else you choose to have a job or you could choose to stay at home but then you don’t make money so everybody has a job or almost everybody has a job so it’s just different choices really it’s not much of a sacrifice."

On what does it take to be an Olympic Champion

"First of all you have to be the best that day which can be a little bit of luck, it can be a little bit of you just have to be ready and on that day for in that period of 4 years you just have to be there and just be ready and there’s I think when I won it in Athens it was just a combination of peaking physically and then just a little bit of luck with you can do all your preparations but you still need just a tiny bit of luck to be able to do what I did was set a PB in the final and but you do all your training to eventually hope to get a little bit of luck in the finals."

 

 

 

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
Andreas Thorkildson, Olympic Javelin Champion, Norway