Gabriela Janik turned senior in 2009 and, as every elite gymnast, dreamed of going to the Olympics. Marta Pihan-Kulesza zwas the gymnast to represent Poland in 2012. Janik went to the Olympic test in 2016 but placed lower than her teammate Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska and was not able to represent Poland at the Rio Olympics. She decided to stick around for another quad and this year, her dream is finally coming true as she qualified to the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 World Championships. Janik has big dreams – after making the vault final at the European Games last year, she is upgrading in order to qualify to the final in Tokyo.
She gave an interview to Zawisza Bydgoszc in October and talked about preparing for the Olympics.
Q: How are you feeling having this qualification in your pocket?
A: I’m the happiest person on Earth. I’ve been waiting for this for 12 years.
Q: Tell us about your performance at Worlds, because it was very difficult. It started rough…
A: Yes. We had 12 weeks of strict preparation for Worlds. You know, preparations started in January, but after the summer break, we had 12 weeks to prepare the best. I had a full team: I had my technical coach, basically my main coach Piotr who oversaw everything, a physical preparation coach, a psychologist, a physiotherapist, so a really complete team. We did everything to prepare as well as possible. Of course, it’s sports, you can never know what will happen. On my first apparatus there were two falls. Obviously, there were questions why. I can’t really answer. I just had to pick myself up, and the remaining three apparatuses were at my best level. I wasn’t very nervous, just a bit angry at myself for letting it happen, but I knew there was no going back. I had to give it my all.
Q: Does this Olympic qualification mean all your athletic dreams came true?
A: I used to think that yes. With time, it changed a bit – we have the qualification, what now? I must think about it and have time until Monday: what exact goal do we set? I would personally love to compete all-around, but that’s not all: I would love to fight, together with my coach, for the vault final. Let’s give ourselves a chance, we’ll see if my health allows it. Let’s hope it does. Health is the most important thing.
Q: This season was very very hard and very very long, you had lots of important competitions: Euros, European Games, World Cups where you had great results, Worlds. What would you say about your entire season?
A: I’m most pleased with European Games. I don’t know why, but during the two all-around competitions there was only one fall, and it was basically an accident. I really went out there and had fun. I knew I had nothing to lose, I could only gain. And indeed, I made the all-around and vault finals, I was 4th in the latter, that was great. However, the most important competition was Worlds, and that’s where the pressure was the biggest. That’s where I really had to make it.
Q: When are you starting preparations for the Games?
A: They are happening all the time in theory. In practice, in December. December/January – that’s when it’s really serious.
Q: We wish you few falls and great results at the Games in Tokyo. Thank you.
A: The work is there, all I need is a bit of luck.
Translated from Polish by Anna Kosieradzka of Gimnastycy.pl
