Adam Ondra comments the Olympics

What are the experiences from Tokyo you will remember the most?
Well, for sure what I remember the most at the moment and what I will remember the most is disappointment. It definitely feels hard, working harder than ever, sacrificing so much and coming back home empty-handed. On the other hand, it always feels good to do your best and climb well on the comp. From this perspective, I don't think I could have done any better on this set boulders and final lead route.

The most positive experience to remember is the speed final. I had been struggling with for so many months with speed, making very little progression and unable to move my body up the speedwall in the right way. In the last two runs, it was the first time in my life when I felt I was levitating while speed climbing. It was effortless, "fast", and so easy. We were always joking that climbing a speed route sub-7 is as hard as climbing 8a on lead (for guys). I think it is actually true. And I was going crazy that after 3 years of practice, I was not 8a speed climber. On my last run of speedclimbing career, I climbed an "8a" and I am happy to quit. But to be honest, on these speed runs, I thought that speed climbing was actually fun.

How was your feeling during the 20 seconds or so you had the gold when Schubert was climbing?
I had no idea it would be gold, but I knew I would be on the podium. I knew that Jakob was super fit and I was 100% sure it would fit Jakob's style. I was pretty sure Jakob wouldn't fall lower than me, but I thought it was possible that he falls in the same move as I did and I would have won due to faster time. But Jakob was just unstoppable, incredible display of endurance and it was painful but easy to admit that Jakob was better climber that day.
(c) Petr Chodura