72-year-old sports coach is getting ready for his 7th Olympic Games
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Index.hu writes that László Cseuz is done with his medical examinations and he can now actively prepare for his next big trip. The 72-year-old onetime sports coach hasn’t missed an Olympic Games since Barcelona, and he departs to Rio in July as well. This will be the 7th Olympic Games where he goes by bicycle, and South America will be the 5th continent he visits. He is a bit scared of the favelas but, since he already has been through a lot, he is confident that he’ll come home safely.
“What would I be doing if I wasn’t working? Exercise for 2-3 hours a day, read and that’s all?” said László Cseuz. He thinks that the life of a retired would be miserable for him. That is why he got the sport rapporteur job at Pécel two years ago. He reinvigorated the sports life in the small town. His determination hasn’t eased after four decades of coaching.
His life is a perfect example: it’s never too late to restart something. After his divorce, triathlon became his guide in life. He was 44 years old when he entered his first triathlon competition. He trained very hard and became one of the bests in his category. His daughter became his partner in triathlon and they decided to cycle to Barcelona after both of them won the county competition in 1991. And Barcelona didn’t seem to be far away.
“After three I said that I finish with Sydney. And then came Athens, which was really close, and I didn’t want to miss it” said László. This is how the Barcelona adventure turned into a series, even though their first trip wasn’t unproblematic. Once the police picked them up at the freeway, they also got lost a few times, and his daughter had an accident as well. They arrived in Szentes after a hospital rest and with 5198 kilometres in their feet. When they were asked about Atlanta they immediately said that they were going.
His partner was taken away by love and studying, so he started his way alone to Atlanta and he goes by himself ever since.
He was getting older with every Olympic Games and he wanted to compensate by setting a higher goal. He cycled 160 km/day to Barcelona, 194 km/day to Atlanta, 214 km/day to Sydney and 232 km/day to Athens at the age of 60. He could’ve has rested more but he always thought of his trips as sport achievements and he spent as much time on land as he could.
According to index.hu, he has read many negative comments on his articles about how easy it is to get to Sydney if one flies to Australia. However, he always makes sure that his trips are not too easy. For instance, when he could only fly to New York from Paris at the time of the Olympic Games in Atlanta, he cycled to Brussels before heading to Paris so that he didn’t miss those kilometres.
