Guess what!

An Olympic Gold medalist is joining us at Connections Adventure in Slovenia!

And not only that, he’s going to provide one of the most prestigious Connections Experiences we’ve ever offered – a rowing demonstration from an Olympic champion. Not bad, eh?

We’re so excited to have Luka Špik with us for the event, and can’t thank Slovenia Tourism enough for pulling the strings to make it happen.

I grilled Luka about what it takes to be a champion, and here’s what he had to say…

Ciao!

Micaela

“I’ve been rowing for more than half of my life. During that time, I won three Olympic medals – gold (Sydney), silver (Athens), bronze (London) – and two world champion titles.

“In Slovenia, we’re lucky that our conditions are really good for training for rowing. The only time that we need to change our location is during the winter when the lakes are frozen. Two weeks before the Olympics, we were training twice a day on Lake Bled.

“Crossing the finish line and winning Gold felt like being at a really good rock concert. That extremely positive feeling where nothing bothers you at that time, everything’s great, it’s dreamy! It’s a mixture of relief and happiness – we achieved what we wanted to achieve.

I celebrated in the way I think any Gold Olympic medalist should. I was 21 at the time, so yeah, good parties! But I knew this one was the one that had to be celebrated. It’s important to take time to celebrate your achievements because if you just keep going forward and forward without appreciating it, at the end, you’re empty.

The qualities that make a good rower are the same as those that make any good athlete. When you decide you’re going do something, you have to be prepared to train hard. And if you really enjoy it, it’s not a problem that you have to train twice a day every day.

At Connections Adventure in Slovenia, my rowing partner and I are going to do a rowing presentation for delegates on Lake Bled – and maybe give them the chance to try it themselves! It looks really easy and relaxing when you’re sitting back and watching, but then you realise that there’s a lot of elements to it.