As Hungarian swimming great Katinka Hosszu gears up for her fifth Olympic Games the triple gold medallist says her target for Tokyo is simply to "enjoy the moment".
After making her Olympic debut at Athens in 2004 and competing in Beijing in 2008, she missed out on the podium at the London Games in 2012 despite high expectations.
But in Rio four years later Hosszu won three golds and a silver, and cemented her place as one of the world's top swimmers.
The 32-year-old, nicknamed the "Iron Lady", plans to compete in the 200m and 400m individual medley events, the 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly in Japan.
"I really want to be in the moment in Tokyo, and not worry so much about the end result but feel the Olympics, and just be there," Hosszu told AFP.
"It felt like I wasn't really there, I didn't really have the emotions of winning a gold medal, because right away I was thinking of the next event.
"So I didn't really enjoy the moment of stepping on the podium, or listening to the anthem as I was already thinking of what I need to do for the next race."
Hosszu said her hero when growing up was compatriot Krisztina Egerszegi, who won five individual gold medals over three consecutive Games between 1988 and 1996.
In Rio, Hosszu shattered the world record in the 400m medley and broke the Olympic record in the 200m medley as well as winning gold in the 100m backstroke.
But she declined to say if she could win gold medals in Tokyo and match or even overtake Egerszegi's haul.
I really want to be in the moment in Tokyo, and not worry so much about the end result but feel the Olympics, and just be there
"I definitely will give my best whatever I have and am going to enjoy that moment of celebrating my results," she said with a smile.
As well as her achievements in the pool, Hosszu is also a pioneer in the sport.
She has put her name to a swimsuit with "Iron Lady" branding, holds live conferences with her legions of fans on Facebook, and is one of the highest-profile swimmers behind the professional International Swimming League (ISL).
The team-based competition format, launched in 2019, is designed to shake up swimming and boost the profile of a sport whose biggest moments traditionally come at the Olympics and world championships.
"I am really honoured to be part of ISL as one of the team owners, trying to show that swimming can be professional," said Hosszu.
"We have a league now. The swimmers are taken care of as elite athletes as they should be, as we do a lot of hard work.
"I think swimming can be very exciting, so changing the format of swimming competitions is helping to show spectators that it is fun to come to a swim meet, it can be kind of like going to a soccer game."
But for now Hosszu will be putting her broader ambitions aside as she focuses on her bid for more Olympic glory in Tokyo.
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Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5
Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
