VLCEK Erik

General
INJURY AFFECTS OLYMPIC PREPARATION
After he suffered a broken leg and had to undergo surgery in mid-2020, he was not able to train at all for six weeks. He said that the setback increased his motivation ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which will be his sixth Olympic Games. "I have never broken anything before, or had surgery, and even now [speaking in July 2020] months after I'm still going through therapy with my leg. For me just being able to train properly would have been good but I couldn't do anything for six weeks. I think that time was good for me because the body always needs to rest. It is just as important as training is. With the Olympics postponed until 2021, most people would lose motivation. But those six weeks showed me just how bad I really want to make my sixth Olympics and it lit a fire inside me." (eurolympic.org, 23 Jul 2020; canoe-europe.org, 06 Apr 2020; sport.aktuality.sk, 03 Apr 2020)

He became the first Slovakian canoe sprint athlete to compete at four Olympic Games, when he participated at the 2012 Games in London after appearances at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Games. He then went on to become the first Slovakian sprint paddler to compete at five Olympic Games at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (SportsDeskOnline, 17 Dec 2020)

He became the first Slovakian canoe sprint athlete to win three medals at the Olympic Games, when he claimed silver in the men's K4 1000m at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. He previously won bronze in the men's K4 1000m at the 2004 Games in Athens, and silver in the same event at the 2008 Games in Beijing. (SportsDeskOnline, 17 Dec 2020)

When he won gold in the men's K2 500m at the 2014 World Championships in Moscow, Russian Federation, he became the first Slovakian canoe sprint athlete to win nine gold medals at the world championships. He went on to become the first Slovakian sprint paddler to win 10 world championship titles, when he claimed gold in the K4 1000m at the 2015 edition. His 2015 victory also made him the first canoe sprint athlete representing Slovakia to win 15 medals of any colour at the world championships, a record he had extended to 17 by the 2019 edition. (SportsDeskOnline, 17 Dec 2020)