Barbora Spotakova talks building houses and beer

Czech javelin thrower Barbora Spotakova landed the Olympic title and set a world record during a near perfect season but as spikesmag.com discovered she has not let success go to her head.

For arguably the hottest sporting property in the Czech Republic, Barbora Spotakova is refreshingly down to earth. Greeting spikesmag.com with a warm smile she apologies for her ‘bad English’ before answering questions with an honesty and enthusiasm that some struggle to muster.

In the comfort of a hotel lobby in Monaco, Spotakova appears thinner than you might imagine for a world-class thrower. Naturally shy, she has been thrust into the hothouse of fame in a country which reveres its rich heritage of athletics stars from distance legend Emil Zatopek to spear ace Jan Zelezny.

So how has she enjoyed the attention and fame she now enjoys in her homeland?

“Mostly it is really nice and people really like me,” she explains. “Most people say they are cheering for me, so it is mostly a nice side of fame.

"They recognize me when I go shopping in Prague but I feel the change because I am Olympic champion and the media influence is strong. It is not like when I won the World Championship in Osaka.”

More than three months on from the Olympic Games and she is still regularly receiving mail from well wishers keen to share their experience, and she is only too happy to write back.

“People write me letters and I almost start to cry, it feels like you really have the support of the people, they feel like I’m their friend,” she explains.

“Mostly older people write you letters about their dog's name and about their family, about how many children or grandchildren they have. I do all the things by myself like signing autographs [for the letter writers] and everything.”

After landing the Olympic title with a European record in Beijing, Spotakova then completed the perfect year in the final event of the season at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

Inside the Mercedes Benz Arena she launched the spear out to a stunning 72.28m to match the achievements of her countryman Jan Zelezny and become a Czech javelin world record holder.

She also bagged a cool $130,000 for her accomplishments in Stuttgart and plans to use the money to build a house with her boyfriend, Lukas, on the outskirts of Prague next year.

When asked what she was most looking forward to when moving into the new house however, she came up with a surprising answer: “Maybe, sitting in the garden and marking out a soccer pitch,” she says. “We [her and Lukas] both like to play soccer many Czech athletes play soccer at the beginning of the workouts to warm up a little bit.”

Lukas, who is a fireman, plays for the village soccer team – Sokol Sykorice - and Spotakova regularly supports him from the sidelines.

But spikesmag.com asks mischievously, does the opposition go in a little harder on Lukas knowing he is the partner of the Czech Republic’s No.1 athlete?

“Actually, that’s what happens a lot,” she explains. “One week I didn’t watch him but they recognized him and they said to him ‘you have appeared on many talks on TV you think you are the best’ so they go hard on him. But he is also hard, so they don’t like him very much. He is a successful forward and scores many goals.”

But besides playing soccer and taking her dogs out for a walk Spotakova has another unusual interest for a world-class athlete – beer.

“Since I was small I like the taste of beer. Every time my dad had a beer at home I like to sip a little,” she says giggling. “The Czech culture is a beer culture. Our most famous beer is Pilsner, but I am a fan of the small breweries they have a special place.”

Such has been her success Spotakova and her partner have been given free beer for the past two years at her favourite drinking venue – U Pinkasu – in central Prague and over the years she has won four kegs of beer on the back of her athletic achievements.

Even after the competition in her hometown of Jablonec in September she took out many of her competitors to the pub, ‘I think they really enjoyed it,’ she says of the experience.

So how often would Spotakova drink? “It is normal in the Czech Republic to go out to lunch for a work lunch and drink one beer. I like beer, one beer a day."