Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_02February4 - Index

P E o P L E
a life I always wanted to live. Cross-country skiing has given me a
lot, and most of all it taught me that everything depends on me
and my mind. I learned that one needs to take one step backwards
so as to take two forward,” was how Petra commented her own
achievements at the close of last year’s season. Last year’s season
she ended ranked third in the World Cup Total. Undoubtedly,
her greatest success is represented in the silver medal she won
in the World Championship at Sapporo in Japan. She has lifted
the sports discipline of cross-country skiing, at least concerning
Slovenian competitiveness, to a completely new level, and with
all her successes she undoubtedly deserved the title “queen” or
“princess” of cross-country skiing. The silver medal that she won
in Japan more than a year ago is also the first Slovenian medal in
cross-country skiing at the highest level in the biggest competitions.
With this Petra undoubtedly realized her great wish, since,
before her departure for this competition she said, “At Sapporo I
want to set a new milestone in cross-country skiing in Slovenia.”
And she did. The world’s second best cross-country skier commented
on her success for Radio Slovenia after the competition
in the following manner: ≈Before the championship the pressure
was enormous. In fact, I could hardly wait for everything to start
because I really did not have any more patience from anticipation.
I managed to pull through an excellent performance. From
lap to lap my skiing was better, and in the end I have to admit, I
imagined myself with the gold medal around my neck. Unforgettable,
the only thing I could say is − we kept waiting for this.«
Yet, Petra MajdiË is not only a specialist in sprint performance,
where she has posted her best results. At the beginning of last
season she proved by winning a 10-kilometer classical style competition
in the prestige series Tour de Ski that her talent is not
restricted to exceptional results in one discipline only. In 10-kilometer
performances she later won the medal two more times.
A special place in her collection of achievements is also held by
ranking 3rd in the famous 45-kilometer marathon performance
at Vasaloppet, which is perhaps the most prestigious competition
in the world of cross-country skiing. But where does she
again and again find the will and motivation for all the effort that
is required in this sport? “I discovered myself in cross-country
skiing, and this is all the motivation I had all these years: To be
with oneself by oneself and returning back to oneself and nature.
If you like it and if it presents a challenge for you, then crosscountry
skiing represents a joy. Of course, later on you are drawn
by the results also,” Petra admitted to Slovenian journalists not
long ago.
All of her achievements in the sports field have given her another
honorary title, that is, Petra MajdiË has for the second year in a
row received the title of Slovenia's Best Athlete of the Year, voted
by the Slovenian Sports Journalists. When she came on stage
to receive the award, she must have also impressed the hearts
of those who are not such fervent supporters of sport with her
moving speech. “The year 2007 was most of all very successful,
since at the moment cross-country skiing is my life and according
to the results at the end of the last year’s and at the beginning
of this year's season, it proved to be super successful yet also
extremely hard. In all these years I mostly learned that there are
no boundaries; those are rather in the minds of people,” she
acknowledged. She also added that she is fully aware of the responsibility
she has as a top athlete who can influence the younger
generations with their achievements. She can encourage them
to participate in sports, and that is why top sportspeople must
bear their own share of responsibility.
sinfo february 08 30
fIRST-TIME ENVIAbLE RESULTS AT THE
OLyMPIC gAMES
The first time she probably drew attention to herself was at the
2002 Olympic Games, taking place in Salt Lake City where in
the pursuit competition she took an impressive sixth place. This
ranking has until today been the best Slovenian ranking at the Olympic
Games in the discipline of cross-country skiing. Otherwise,
Petra finished ninth in that very pursuit competition, but after
two full years passed three Russian cross-country skiers were officially
disqualified for doping, so Petra was awarded sixth place.
And these were only the first Olympic Games she had participated
in. She repeated her success at the Olympic Games in Torino
two years ago where she again won sixth place. Due to wet snow
she was forced into using somewhat less optimal equipment, and
for this very reason, she later told us, missed a higher ranking.
She remains optimistic regarding her expectations for the next
Olympic Games, which shall be held Vancouver in two years, as
she has acknowledged to the Slovenian media.
In the beginning everything did not look so promising. On her
webpage she wrote that her first experiences on the snow were
so disappointing that she left training; this could have almost
prevented her from continuing. At the first training when she
did not know how to cross-country ski, other peers left her far
behind; this was so depressing for her that she decided to stop
training for good. It was fortunate that the coach later persuaded
her to continue, since Slovenia would otherwise be left without
one of the best sportswomen and certainly the best cross-country
skier. Training during the first two years was mainly carried out
through game. Petra had already started training when she was
eleven. Later everything did not run smoothly either because for
some time Petra’s parents opposed her frequent absences from
home, even after she had totally dedicated herself to cross-country
skiing. Eventually they were in wonder over her decisiveness
and zeal. As she acknowledges on her web page, she received
similar responses from the surrounding environment, since living
in a small village, as is Dol pri Ljubljani, it seemed unusual
to see a young girl constantly up and about − cycling and roller
skating. In her spare time, of which there is precious little as one
could conjecture from her arduous timetable, Petra wrote on her
web page that she likes to read, in particular “The Little Prince”
and “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn«. She also likes watching interesting
movies, such as “La Vita é Bella/Life is Beautiful« and taking
shorter strolls in Ljubljana with her friends. There is no rest for
the sportswoman even in her spare time. Even then she likes to
stay active, so she cycles, skates, rows and goes mountaineering.
Petra is otherwise a student of the Human Resources and Social
Management study programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences
in Ljubljana. As much as it is possible, she tries to balance her
study-related obligations with her tiresome training, travel and
competitions, which has become an even more difficult task now
that she worked her way through to the very top of the world
of cross-country skiing. She has also written that due to the perseverance
she claims to possess, there is no doubt that she shall
prove successful.