Colombia? Coffee and favelas, preferably not with a stroller. I missed it, admits Fuksa

He went to the traditional training camp for the first time as the father of his daughter Emily, who will soon turn one. “It’s Colombia, you don’t know what can happen, what the health security would be like. And we are in a hotel near the main road, which would not be ideal for a pram. Maybe when he’s bigger,” he muses.

So he looked at the photos and videos that his wife sent him on his phone. “I missed a lot, but the seven weeks went by quickly. And when I arrived home, the little girl recognized me right away, she just pretended to be shy for a few minutes,” smiles Fuksa, who was also going to South America with his brother Petr, a double canoe partner.

Guatapé became so popular among Czech canoeists that several training groups went to Colombia, including other Olympians Daniel Havel and Jakub Špicar.

“They rejected other federations there and preferred us when we were there first. If other countries were training there, it would probably stress me out watching the opponents, but with the Czech boys it was more of a distraction,” he praises himself. He added additional relaxation from the kilometers in the boat, for example in cafes or when visiting the city of Medellin with a dark past.

“They showed us the roof where Pablo Escobar was killed, we went to look in the favelas,” recounts 31-year-old Fuksa, who had no reason to change his preparation for the season. However, last year he was invincible in the single canoe and for the first time dominated the Olympic kilometer at the World Championships.

This year’s international season for him starts next weekend at the World Cup in Szeged and culminates in the Olympics, with which he has unfinished business…