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Slovak pedestrian Matej Tóth ended his career. He announced this after the 50 km Olympic race in Sapporo, Japan, where he did not defend his gold from Rio de Janeiro 2016 and took 14th place.
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The 38-year-old Slovak athlete announced that he would finish after the Tokyo Olympics in 2019. However, the world was hit by a coronavirus pandemic. will participate in the games at all.
Although he welcomed the postponement of the games from an overall point of view, from the personal point of view he could not initially imagine that he should extend the preparation by another year. In the end, he decided to continue, in the autumn in Dudince (3:41:15 h) he met the Olympic limit with a reserve and came to Tokyo again as a defender of gold.
He has long been at the forefront of the last “fifty” in Olympic history, but the 30 km crisis has pushed him out of medal fights. “It was definitely one of the hardest races and I probably wouldn’t have finished them if I hadn’t been motivated.
Photo gallery
Matej Tóth
Source: TASR
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At forty kilometers, I felt like I wouldn’t give it if there wasn’t that huge motivation to come to the finish line and end it with honor. I’m disappointed, but it was an honor and I can look everyone in the eye that I did my best. That was the most I could do. “ Tóth said.
While in the first half he seemed to have a chance to take the podium, his physical strength gradually waned and it also affected his psyche: “I had to deal with not fighting for a medal.
That I was leaving a relatively large group, when I was not feeling bad, I was too strong. I had to stay focused and fight. Thanks to everyone who supported me there, the coach, the physiotherapist, but also the journalists who pushed me. “
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Tóth was born on February 10, 1983 in Nitra. As a boy, he tried several sports, but eventually he was fascinated by athletics. He started his sports career at the age of 13, when he joined the athletic club in Nitra and was taken under his wings by the first coach Peter Mečiar. Although he did not have ideal physical parameters, he chose to walk.
However, he replaced it with the hard work, determination and modesty that accompanied him throughout his career. He soon became the champion of the Slovak Republic and began to represent at international events.
In the autumn of 2002, he moved from Nitra to Dukla Banská Bystrica, where he began working with the already legendary coach Juraj Benčík. In the past, he also coached the Olympic winner of the 20 km from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Jozef Pribilinec.
Photo gallery
Matej Tóth
Source: TASR
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A major milestone in Tóth’s career was the 6th place in the 20 km at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, after which he reached the Olympic top team, and in 2010 he achieved his first major success, triumphing at the 50 km World Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico. He already had two starts at the Olympics, both for another 20 km. He took 32nd place in Athens, and 26 years four years later in Beijing. After this Olympics, he decided to move to the Royal Fifty.
Two years later came the aforementioned victory in Mexico and another two 5th place, after additional disqualifications of Russian pedestrians, at the Olympics in London. At the World Championships in 2013, he again took fifth place and then came another big change in his career. He replaced coach Benčík with Matej Spišiak, with whom he has been working ever since.
The new collaboration bore fruit the following season, when he became European vice-champion and a year later won the title at the World Championships in Beijing, where he destroyed the competition with his famous performance. He took the lead after only four kilometers, the lead was still increasing and the second Australian Jared Tallent finally fell behind in the finish by almost two minutes.
Photo gallery
Matej Tóth.
Source: TASR / DPA
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A year before the games in Rio de Janeiro, he once became a big favorite for triumph. However, at the beginning of the Olympic season, he injured his shin tendon and had to take a longer break. He recovered in time, he came to Rio ready to be 100% ready and in life form, and after another great performance he climbed to the sports Olympus. Again before Jared Tallent.
However, the worst period of his career came to a halt, due to the low hemoglobin level in the May 2016 sample, he faced accusations of anti-doping rule violations and manipulation of his own blood using illicit methods (autologous transfusion).
Tótha had a demanding and long proof of his innocence, in which he presented a 250-page document with 25 appendices from seven experts in hematology and metabolomics from six countries. The long fight ended in victory and the Olympic winner cleared his name.
He returned to the competition in March 2018 with a victory at Dudinská fifty, in August he added another 50 km silver to the European Championships in Berlin. He did not finish the World Championships in Doha in extreme temperatures.
A graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Nitra in the field of journalism, he has also been active in sports diplomacy for several years. Since 2012 he has been a member of the SOŠV athletes’ commission and since 2016 he has been its chairman. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Secondary School and the Slovak Athletic Association and from 2014 to 2017 he worked as a member of the World Athletics Athletes’ Commission. Tóth is married to his wife Lenka and has two children, Emma (2007) and Nina (2009).
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