Sports associations that organise championship competitions in water rescue sports, pitting top swimmers in lifesaving disciplines such as manikin, relay, beach sprint and surf race, are an important part of the Czech Red Cross Water Rescue Service. The best swimmers in water rescue are, not surprisingly, also members of national teams competing in both the European and World Championships. CU student Dominika Geržová knows a thing or two about that: she was a part of the most successful Czech team ever in water rescue, at the 2017 European Championships.
She won the junior women’s surf race easily and clinched a bronze medal in obstacles. Two years later, in 2019 in Riccione, Italy, she competed as a senior and also won a bronze in surf race held on the open water. She returned again to Riccione this September for the World Championships but was unlucky. This time, injury got in the way: injured ligaments in her ankle limited her to 20th spot in the individual race and 12th in the relay.
She was looking to improve her spirits at the World InterUniversities in Barcelona, having brought home three gold medals and the overall swimming championship from the same event last year. And did she ever! Dominika dominated by clinching a total of five medals including two gold! Despite the powerhouse performance, it will probably be her last swimming competition for a while, as the member of the KPS Ostrava swimming club has planned something of a swimming holiday when the season wraps up.
“I see it as a one-year break and a return to the World Aquatics Championships in Australia in two years’ time. A career as a professional athlete has never been a top priority for me,” she says. Will it be hard to return to the pool after such an extended layoff? “I don’t think so. I’ve always been able to swim similar times as I used to after two weeks of training, so I don’t think I need that much to catch up,” she says optimistically.
From classic swimming to lifesaving
Geržová’s path to water rescue began with traditional swimming lessons, which she started in her native Krnov. Her mother introduced her to swimming at the same time as her brother. While her brother eventually gave up the sport (and now does Greco-Roman wrestling instead), she persevered. At the same time, she always had her feet on the proverbial ground, the swimmer explains: “I never set very big goals for myself in swimming. My mum always just told me to try and do my best and I did. The Olympics were such a distant dream for me that I didn’t even think about it… After a few years, I found swimming not as fulfilling, so I tried lifeguarding,” Geržová explains.
Krnov has one of the best water rescue associations in the country so it was a great place to start. Although she only does water rescue as a sport, she thinks she would have no problem doing real lifesaving. “From my childhood I remember an experience when my dad had to pull an elderly lady who was drowning out of the water. I was about 10 years old at the time.” Although she worked as a lifeguard at the pool a few times during the summer, she has never had to save anyone in similar circumstances yet. But she certainly knows how. As for her favourite discipline? That’s easy, the competitor says: “I enjoy surf race the most. You start en masse on the shore, run into the sea where you can push off the sea floor, swim 400 metres to marked buoys and rush ashore,” the swimmer says. She also likes beach flag, where competitors run sprints on the beach with someone dropping out each lap:
“There’s a lot of contact, it’s all elbows back and forth.” With all that excitement, in the pool and on the open sea, won’t she get bored on dry land? Um no, not a chance!
A valuable break
Dominika’s partner is a co-owner of BU1, a football clothing and goalkeeper glove company in Opava, where she helps with social media management, creating original content, including videos. And while her boyfriend is also the new head goalkeeper manager at Slezský FC Opava, she is the new physiotherapist for the B-team. Besides all that, she also works at youth camps as a medic and is considering starting a business of her own. “I think I will have enough things to do,” the 23-year-old athlete laughs. She and her boyfriend recently moved into a new apartment with a nice and spacious kitchen, so she’s looking forward to trying a slew of inventive recipes. Cooking is just another of her many hobbies.
Dominika Geržova is a native of Krnov and CU student representing the Czech Republic in swimming. In the pool she has several medals from the national championships, the most recent being this year’s gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay with KPS Ostrava. At the last Academic Games, she won eight medals, two of them gold. She is a past junior European champion in water rescue, and won bronze at the European Championships 2019. She is studying fitness coaching at Charles University’s Faculty of Physical Education and Sport.
| Dominika Geržova |
| Dominika Geržova is a native of Krnov and CU student representing the Czech Republic in swimming. In the pool she has several medals from the national championships, the most recent being this year’s gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay with KPS Ostrava. At the last Academic Games, she won eight medals, two of them gold. She is a past junior European champion in water rescue, and won bronze at the European Championships 2019. She is studying fitness coaching at Charles University’s Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. |
