Go Elf ing for gold
Heptathlete Katarina JohnsonThompson is one of Team GB’s brightest hopes for this summer’s Olympic Games. Now she’s on a mission to inspire the UK to get moving
As an elite athlete, Katarina Johnson-Thompson believes she was better prepared than most for the solitude of lockdown. Her dedication to her sport means she rarely sees friends and family in person – pandemic or not.
“Lockdown life isn’t much different to normal as long as the tracks and facilities are open,” says the 28-year-old Olympic heptathlete. “We don’t really go out and socialise that much in between hard training sessions. You just go to the track, come back, recover and do it all again the next day.”
Until the pandemic, Katarina split her time between her family home in Liverpool and living alone in Montpellier, France.
“Normally I’m living and training in France so I already keep up with my friends online, through FaceTime calls and social media,” she says. “It is lonely day to day. But sometimes when I’m in the UK and things are hectic, I crave alone time and time to focus.”
Friends and family also tend to avoid her when she’s training.
“If I ever say: I’m doing a hill session or that I’m down at the track, everyone pretends they’re busy,” she laughs. “And they run a mile if I offer to train with them.”
At the moment she is in Loughborough, preparing for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It was devastating when we heard that the Olympics were postponed. I was really sad because it felt like things were going really well and I was gaining momentum. To suddenly have to stop and reset was quite challenging,” she says. “But I think it was for the best. We’ve all had time to refocus. I’m just excited to get out there now.”
Katarina became a household name in 2012 when she competed in front of a home crowd at the London Olympics, coming 13th in the heptathlon.
“It was one of the highlights of my career. To be involved in a home Olympics – there’s nothing else like it,” she says.
At the time Katarina was just 19 and was fresh from winning a World Junior medal in Barcelona. She was tipped as a rising star in athletics, following in the footsteps of fellow British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.
“When I look back on my development as an athlete, I realise that I didn’t really have time to develop properly. I went straight from being a junior to competing in a home Olympics. Having all that exposure meant there was a lot of expectation to do well.”
After London 2012, Katarina struggled to live up to the hope of a World Championship medal. In 2015, she was in line for silver behind Ennis-Hill at the
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Finally, in 2019, Katarina won a gold medal at the World Championships in Doha, and she has high hopes for Tokyo.
“Now I don’t care about other people’s opinions, I just do it because I love the sport,” she admits.
Adopting a positive mindset has been crucial. “When you’re at your ultimate fitness, your mental approach can be the difference between winning and losing.”
And Müllerlight ambassador Katarina believes that anyone can adopt that positive mindset to give them the motivation to get moving and increase their fitness.
“If anyone’s ever said to themselves that they want to go on a run, or they’re going to do a fitness challenge, but they don’t really want to get up and go, I always say the thought of doing it is so much worse than actually doing it.
“You always feel so much better after you’ve actually done it.”
Away from the track, Katarina craves a quiet life.
“When I’m not training I love to read. When I’m in France, I go to a coffee shop around the corner from my house or I take a book to the park to sit and read. When I’m in England, I like to watch Pixar movies.
“In the last couple of months I’ve found that I really need to have that mental relaxation time too. A lot of people have a lot of time to sit and overthink things now because of lockdown.”
These days, Katarina says she rarely reads or listens to criticism of her performances.
“You’ve got to mute some things. That’s self care.”