Roman Sebrle: "I want Olympic gold in golf"
Czech decathlete Roman Sebrle has built up a compelling case to be classified as the greatest multi-eventer in history, but now he wants to feature in the Olympic Games in a different sport. spikesmag.com catches up with the Czech athlete to talk about his golfing ambitions...
The similarities between performing in the all-action decathlon compared to the slow-moving sport of golf bring to mind thoughts of chalk and cheese.
In the former,
Roman Sebrle is a legend, accomplishing every single honour in the sport during a glittering past decade. He has landed Olympic, world and European decathlon titles, snared World Indoor and European Indoor heptathlon gold medals, and is the current world record holder and only man in history to score more than 9000 points in the ten-discipline event.
Now aged 35, London 2012 could represent his final competition. Afterwards, he could be forgiven for putting his feet up and givIng his aching limbs a much-needed rest.
But no.
Rest is the last thought on Sebrle's mind. Instead
he’s set himself a new and challenging goal – to represent his country at golf, a sport set to be reintroduced to the Olympic programme for the first time in 112 years at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Ambitious? Yes. But few would back against the qualified soldier making a decent fist of it, despite his relative inexperience.
A friend first introduced Sebrle to golf during a warm-weather training trip to South Africa seven years ago, and he quickly developed a keen interest.
His handicap is currently 7.4 – much higher than scratch level he must reach before even contemplating a professional career –
and he has a best score of 75. But as he only plays – on average – once a week and does not play at all during the three months of athletics competition, there is much room for improvement.
“I like golf because of the excellent feeling when you hit the ball in the right way and it flies in the right direction,” he tells spikesmag.com. “It’s also kind of magic, which is hard to describe. My strong point is putting. I putt around 30 putts or less for one round. My weak point is that I’m very uneven in all aspects with my driver.”
Such is the passion for his new-found sport,
Roman even has a golf simulator set up in his home during the winter months for practice. He regularly plays with former French decathlete Sebastien Levicq and fellow Czech multi-eventer Stanislav Sajdok.
Yet because he is a relative golfing novice, this has fuelled a belief that he can thrive in the sport.
“I started to take golf seriously last spring when, before any special training and special coaching, I achieved 3 to 6 over par,” he explains.
“I have a special feeling for movement and my body (through athletics). I can immediately do what someone tells me or shows me in golf practice. I will approach the sport with the same willingness as athletics. And when I seriously train under a high-class coach,
I believe I can come close to PGA level,” he says.
Sebrle, who is a big admirer of world No.1
Tiger Woods and top Spanish golfer
Sergio Garcia because “they can also show emotion,” faces a long road ahead.
A number of athletes from other sports have tried the switch to golf. Czech-born Eighties tennis legend
Ivan Lendl is a scratch handicap player who regularly competes to a high level in celebrity players’ tour events. Yet not even Lendl reached the highest echelons of his newly chosen sport.
So
does Sebrle really believe he can replace his athletics spikes with golf spikes in time for the 2016 Rio Olympics?
“I would be happy to try, but realistically it could be 2020,” he says ambitiously.
So,
spikesmag.com slips in a cheeky question: “which would you prefer, Olympic decathlon gold in 2012 or Olympic golf gold in 2016?”
“Tough question,” he replies. “Both could be real, but because I've already won decathlon gold I would prefer a gold medal in golf.”
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