Sixteen-year-old blind swimmer David Kratochvíl achieved enormous success at the Paralympic Games in Paris. After the gold in the crawling 400m and the silver in the 100m breaststroke, he won bronze in the 200m medley. He will thus bring a complete set of medals home to Tachów. I don’t know how I do it, but it’s divine, says the humble young man.
David exaggeratedly said that he would like to win one of each medal. He finally turned this dream into reality. At the same time, Paris is his first ever start at the Paralympic Games. “I don’t know how I do it, but it’s god, I’m enjoying it so much. After the 100, I joked that I might still have a bronze to make it complete after the gold and silver, and now it really worked out. Not many people will have a complete set of medals,” praises the swimmer David A little while.
The 16-year-old swimmer from the village of Halže near Tachova did well in the final of the 200-meter medley. Kratochvíl mastered the discipline, in which all four swimming styles alternate, in 2:24.60 minutes and lost 6.24 seconds to the winning Dutchman Dorsman. David does not specialize in positioning, he values success all the more. “It’s my side event, the second best time in my life and bronze at the Paralympics, so great satisfaction.” he said. Both the bowtie and the emblem of the Czech star sat, but a minor hitch occurred at the turn in the middle of the race. “But it doesn’t matter, it wouldn’t change the order. Then there were the breasts, I hate them, but they have to go away. Well, crawling is already such a sprint,” described his race.
Out of four starts at his first Paralympics, he did not finish on the podium only once, he was fifth in the 50-meter freestyle. David has two more races ahead of him. On Thursday, he will compete in the 100-meter breaststroke and a day later in the 100-meter butterfly. “I’m really looking forward to the bow tie, I like it. I think that coach Petr Thiel and I have honed him again,” David believes.
The Czech expedition in Paris has six medals to its credit so far. Together with Kratochvíl, Šárka Pultar Musilová, David Drahonínský and Tereza Brandtlová took care of them in archery. Table tennis player Jiří Suchánek also has another certain medal, who advanced to the semi-finals in singles. At the last Paralympics in Tokyo, Czech disabled athletes won eight medals, two of which were gold.
