The end of a long and successful season approaches for Violeta Szekely
SW-J for the IAAF
8 September 2001 – Melbourne, Australia – Seven victories in the IAAF Golden League, even though only five were required to clinch a share of the Jackpot, leading the Overall Grand Prix Standings and understandably Violeta Szekely is a happy woman as she goes into tomorrow’s Grand Prix Final as certain as anyone can be of walking away victorious.

“Of course I am confident,” she confides, “I have a ten point lead in the Overall standings and I do not think that anyone can really threaten me on Sunday”.

In fact, that ten point lead means that Violeta would have to finish fifth or lower in her race not to fulfil predictions and walk away with the $100,000 dollar prize that goes to the winners of the men and women’s Overall Grand Prix – and that is one possibility that she does not envisage.

“This has really been a great season for me, even if I am starting to feel a little tired now,” she confesses, arriving from the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, where she added another victory to her collection.

There are two main reasons behind the Romanian’s success this year: she has changed her coach and is now coached by her husband and the longstanding rivalry with her compatriot Gabriela Szabo.

“Being coached by my husband has really made my life that much easier,” says Szekely, who is in Melbourne with her husband and child. “Now I can train as I need with my family near me and that makes everything so much better for me. It takes off a lot of pressure.”

As for the rivalry with Szabo, which has ranged from exchanges of words to threats of court actions and is now back to simmer-level after the World Championships in Edmonton where the two Romanians ran a victory lap together:

“Rivalry is part of sport and always has been, it is normal that we are rivals on the track,” says Szekely. “But Szabo did not invent Romanian distance running, it was around a long time before she was.

“It is true, though, that this rivalry has pushed me even harder to be successful.”

It will probably also have pushed Szekely to wealth, even if Gabriela Szabo heads the field in the earnings stakes: she became the first athlete to earn a million dollars in competition awards in 1999 following her own victory in the Golden League and in the Grand Prix Final.

In all events, Szekely is looking forward to a well-earned holiday after Sunday’s competition: “We are going to stay in Atlanta for at least a month with one of my husband’s closest friends and after that we will think about what to do with the money. I haven’t really thought about it yet, but it is a lot of money for anyone!”