Mark Ouma for IAAF
23 June 2000 - Potchefstroom, South Africa - Having learnt from her mistakes at the Atlanta Olympics four years ago, Gabriela Szabo plans to fulfill her dream of becoming an Olympic champion in Sydney next September.
Crowned the 1999 World Female Athlete of the Year, Szabo intends to continue her successful run this year. What has never come to light before, is that for the last two years, she has had crucial training stints in South Africa before taking the world apart on the track.
Undefeated last year, she opened the year on a high by setting a world indoor record in the 5000 metres (14 minutes 47.35 seconds) in Dortmund, Germany, before going on to win the 5000 metres at the World Athletics Championships in Seville, Spain. Without a shadow of a doubt, her greatest achievement was winning the women’s contest at the IAAF Golden League.
In February this year, she won the 3000 metres at the European Championships in Ghent, Belgium. She has the world’s fastest indoor times in the 2000 metres (5 minutes 38.76 seconds) in Levin, France and 3000 metres ( 8 minutes 35.42 seconds) in Birmingham, Britain.
Save for a brief period of competition in Europe in February, Szabo has quietly trained on a farm near Potchefstroom in the North West province since marrying her coach Zsolt Gyongyossy last November.
"This year my mind is focussed on the Sydney Olympics where l want to win the 5000 metres. There is a strong possibility that l will also run the 1500 metres," said Szabo, a silver medallist in the 1500 metres at the Atlanta Olympics.
"My training in Potchefstroom has been very important to my preparations before major international competitions. I prefer training in the rural areas where l am free from polluted air, noisy urban life and a lot of media attention," said the famous Romanian athlete.
Her coach explains: "While Gabriela relished the attention from the Romanian public, she is unable to train at home. She needs a quiet environment to concentrate on training. We are grateful to the people of Potchefstroom who have an unwritten code of secrecy not to reveal the whereabouts of the many international athletes who train in the area.
"Besides our physiotherapist, cook, and myself, Szabo has no contacts with anyone while in Potchefstroom. This near seclusion is a must for her as she has to lay a solid foundation before she sharpens her speed for competitions," said Gyongyossy.
Szabo says she first came to South Africa in 1998 where she won the gold medal at the World Cup in Athletics in Johannesburg. She liked the climate here and after consultations with her Holland-based manager Jos Hermans, she decided to spend most of the Northern Hemisphere winters training in Potchefstroom.
"This year l think l will do well at the Olympics as the climate here is very similar to that in Sydney. My only problem this year was that there was a lot of rain early in the year and this made my training very difficult," said Szabo.
The Romanian is determined to put behind her the ghost of the Atlanta Olympics. She arrived in Atlanta as favourite to win the 5000 metres, only to fail to qualify for the finals. A few days later she summoned courage to come away with a face-saving silver medal in the 1500 metres.
"I shoulder the responsibility for Gabriela’s under-par performance in Atlanta," Gyongyossy admitted. "I should have gone to Atlanta beforehand to assess the climate and weather conditions, so that l could prepare Gabriel for what lay ahead.
"We had never been to America before and we found Atlanta too hot and humid for our comfort. Gabriela did not have enough time to acclimatise before competing. We have learnt our lesson and that is why two years ago we decided that Potchefstroom would be an ideal place to get our act together," said Gyongyossy.
The partnership between Szabo, 24, and Gyongyossy,37, goes back to 1988 soon after Gyongyossy completed his studies graduated from the University of Bucharest. "I qualified as athletics coach and although l could coach athletes in all disciplines of the sport, my interest lay mainly in the middle distances. Under the Communist system at the time l was assigned to train athletes in the tiny town of Bistrita where Gabriela hails.
"One day l came to watch a talent identification race where the youngsters runs 600 metres. Gabriela who was only thirteen caught my eye as an athlete with untapped potential. I invited her to join my training group. Although her mother was apprehensive about her participation in athletics, her father was unequivocally supportive. The rest is history.
"I want to point out that for a long time to come, Eastern Europe and Africa will produce the best athletes in the world. Although we may lack the sophisticated scientific backup readily available in western Europe, Canada, Australia and United States, our work rate surpasses by far that of our counterparts from the affluent west.
"In my experience, what makes respect athletes easpecially from Morocco, Ethiopia, Kenya and Algeria is that the more they achieve, the more humble they become. They have a lot to teach the rest of the world," said Gyongyossy.
Szabo chipped "I confirmed this when l was part of our national teams that trained in Morocco’s Atlas mountain camp in Ifrane in 1992. The Romania and Morocco athletics federations have a good working relations and l returned there in 1995.
South Africa presents to me a different culture and people. What l find important about this exposure is that it has opened my eyes. I have been improving my spoken english while here, and this is good for the wholesome development of ones personality," said Szabo.
"I also think that the handsome prize money and incentives that have been injected into athletics is also a huge motivation to train hard. Many of us come from poor backgrounds and if we give our best to the sport we stand a chance of securing a better future for ourselves and our families," said Szabo who last year became the first female athlete to make a million United States dollars in prize money in a single year.
Looking ahead, Szabo says that she plans at some stage to give special attention to her family. "After four or five years, l would like to take time off and have a baby. After that l will decide what to do with my career," Szabo disclosed.
Nonetheless, there are hints that she may never progress into a long distance runner. "I would not like my wife to compete in 10,000 metres or at longer distances on the road. Her best race is the 3000 metres and running 5000 metres is the maximum distance l would like her to run. That is why an Olympic medal in the 5000 metres in Sydney could be the pinnacle of her career," said Gyongyossy.
On the road to Sydney, Szabo gets her outdoor season underway tomorrow, (Saturday June 24) in the United States. "I will compete in the 1500 metres in Eugene, Oregon.
"There will be four or five other meetings including the Golden League in Berlin and maybe Brussels. However my heart and mind are on completing unfinished business at the Olympics," said Szabo.
