Shaolin Sándor Liu: We've learned to handle the pressure

– You arrived in Beijing at the end of January. Did you manage to get over jet lag and get used to the extremely strict requirements?
– I didn't have any particular problems with jet lag, I can fall asleep at night if that's what you mean. Testing is a different story: I went through the most offensive procedure of my life at the airport. In the Olympic Village, they take samples from the throat every day, but they don't treat you gently as we even have to make a sound while they're rummaging down our throats... But all this is incidental. We are very happy with all the negative tests because unfortunately, the experience is that there are more and more coronavirus cases in the village. European champion Natalia Maliszewska of Poland has also tested positive, with whom we live in the same building. Since then, we've been entering the elevator on our tiptoes – unfortunately, we have to use it because we live on the twelfth floor.

– Are you scared?
– This is my third Olympics, and I feel that the village is more deserted than before. It is visible that the situation is special, it is not like usual, and everyone has a slightly different attitude towards the other. On the one hand, it is good to see many familiar faces again, and on the other hand, we do not dare to approach each other as we normally do. Spoken or unspoken, there's a little bit of fear in everyone because here you really never know anything for sure...

– Are you nervous, or are you not having these problems at your third Olympics?
– I'm a little nervous, or I should say, I'm really looking forward to the race. But of course, I was most looking forward to my brother Ádó. I'm glad he's finally with us. By the way, everything is great here so far: the quality of the ice is excellent; we hope it will stay the same for the race. The mixed zone is huge. It will be eternal memory for everyone who can march through here. It's going to be very exciting, and I really want to win here!

– How familiar will the track be?
– I've raced here before, and I enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately, according to my latest information, there can be no spectators in the stands at all, not even locals, but at least everyone will compete with equal chances.

– But it wouldn't have been bad for you: you and your brother are loved here in China, and you would have had a lot of people cheering for you.
– Yes, it would have been great because it's no secret that I'm a great showman. I like to give the audience a "show" at the competition, and they appreciate that. We are half Chinese, and we speak the language very well. Even in the village, the volunteers stop us on the way, which is also a very nice feeling and gives us a huge amount of confidence. Of course, like everything else, there are good and less good sides to this, and the other day I wondered if the closed gate competition was more of a positive or a negative thing. Then I talked to the Olympians who were in Tokyo, and they said that if you get into the flow, the special Olympic atmosphere, and you can ride the wave, you don't really feel that there's anyone else on the track besides you.

– Do you think your preparation went well?
– Fitness training at the beginning of the year is always hard, but we need to keep ourselves in good shape especially since we will have a very long stay in Beijing. We will be here from the first to the last day. We were tired after the foundation training, but obviously, we had to get the right form. On the first days in Beijing, the training started early, our coaches felt that this would be the right method, so we could move a little easier in the afternoon. It was on Tuesday for the first time that we got on the ice at 8 pm, so we tried to simulate the race a little bit. The competition starts every day in the evening – that's what we're trying to adjust to in training.

– You know the field well, and at this year's World Cup series you were able to experience even more the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents. Where do you see yourself and the team, the defending men's relay champions, in Beijing?
– That's always a difficult question. A few years ago, we were asked where we would put ourselves, and we said we were in the top three. I don't think this is any different now. We are still at the top of the leaderboard, and if all goes well, we can pinch individual medals. However, a lot depends on the draw and the luck factor. We won four years ago, but that was four years ago, a lot has happened since then, new faces have emerged, there have been a lot of changes in racing tactics, too. We tried to keep up with the opponents, we've had everything we needed. We will find out here what this will be enough for. Let's hope for good results.

– Perhaps all that has changed is that everyone expects at least a medal from you as an Olympic champion. Do you feel the pressure to perform?
– Others and we always had and will have expectations for ourselves. A professional athlete needs to learn to handle pressure as soon as possible, but it depends on personality; some do better, some do less. I think we've learned to handle it pretty well over the years. The Olympics is completely different, even if it doesn't say much to the laypeople. But I know from my example in PyeongChang that even though we had won races before, when we stood at the start line of the individual race, we were more nervous and afraid of the rivals. Even if you prepare the best you can, at the Olympics, you suddenly don't even know which one is your left hand and right foot.

– And finally, what about the new event, the mixed relay?
– We like it, and it's great that we have another chance to win a medal. At least Ádó and I don't see a problem with that.

Finals and ceremonies of Hungarian interest
February 5:    mixed relay
February 7:   women's 500, men's1000
 February 9:   men's 1500
February 11:   women's 1000
 February 13:   men's 500
 February 16:   men's relay, women's 1500

Gergely Kohán, Erika Kovács (text), Károly Árvai (photo) report from Beijing on behalf of Nemzeti Sport

Translated by Vanda Orosz