'Trust your tappers': Blind teenage swimmer David Kratochvíl is Czech medal hopeful at Paralympics

TACHOV, Czech Republic -- Teenage swimmer David Kratochvil headlines the medal hopefuls of the Czech Republic’s team at the upcoming Paralympics in Paris.

The 16-year-old Kratochvil used to play ice hockey until losing his sight because of a serious illness about 10 years ago. His decision to switch from the ice rink to the swimming pool has proved the right one.

Kratochvil set world records in 50 and 200 meter backstroke last year and went on to win his first gold medal at the para swimming world championships in Manchester, England, in the 400-meter freestyle race.

Earlier this year, Kratochvil was named the best Czech Paralympic athlete for 2023.

He is currently training for the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic Games. It will be his first Paralympics, something he's long dreamt about while working hard to make a mark at the six races he has qualified for.

“I can hardly say how much I’m looking forward to it,” Kratochvil said recently while training in the public swimming pool in the western town of Tachov — population of around 13,000 — near his hometown of Halze.

“I’m delighted that I’ve made the qualification times,” he said. "We’ll see what happens but above all I’m looking forward to the atmosphere at the Games.”

Despite his records and obvious talent, for now Kratochvil would be “satisfied with a place in a final and a fifth- or sixth-place finish” but he has bigger goals for the future.

“I’d like to win a medal at the Paralympics one day, that’s for sure,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was nine.”

In Paris, Kratochvil will race in the 50 and 400-meter free, 100 backstroke, breast stroke and butterfly, and the 200-meter individual medley.

While his friends from the local high school enjoy two months of summer holidays, Kratochvil has been fully focused on training. He’s twice a day in the pool for a total of four hours with a gym workout in-between. A 10-mile (16-kilometer) ride on a tandem bicycle in the evening completes the day. Sunday is his only day off but he has no complaints.

“That’s fine, that’s what the sport is about,” he said.

It’s a busy time not just for Kratochvil, but his entire Olympic team. And that includes his parents — Stanislava and Jiří. Visually impaired swimmers might sometimes have a problem to keep a straight line but need almost no more help while swimming — with one exception. As they can’t recognize that they’re approaching the end of the pool, they need “tappers” to let them know when to turn or finish a race by tapping their head or back.

Kratochvil’s parents took over the roles of tappers for him.

“It’s great to work together,” Kratochvil said. “You have to trust your tappers.”

The role of tappers is key for success with timing a crucial point. It differs according to swimming styles and distances competed.

His parents use a homemade device for tapping — a 3-meter (10-foot) long handle from a fishing net with a foam ball at the end covered by two rubber balloons.

“People say we’re catching fish,” his mother Stanislava said with a smile.

Actually, the parents feel more nervous than their son ahead of the Games.

“We could spoil all his effort and that’s the last thing we want to do,” she said.

The Paralympics preparation currently takes all their time. Because of work, they have to split their attendance at training, which means one of them has to run around the pool about 5 kilometers (3 miles) on average to be ready to tap at both ends.

The public pool in Tachov is nothing like the Paris La Defense Arena where the swimming competitions take place.

The Tachov pool is 25 meters long. A homemade device by Kratochvil’s dad provided a proper starting block for his son.

With the nearest Olympic-size, 50-meter pool in the city of Plzen currently closed, Kratochvil was scheduled to travel for a warm-up camp in Pardubice and also plans to train in another 50-meter pool in Usti nad Labem. Both cities are located more than 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Tachov.

The swimming club in Tachov was where a coach recognized Kratochvil’s talent when his parents were looking with him for a new sport he could do after he lost sight in his second eye because of cancer. He lost the first eye for the same reason when he was just 1.

That has changed his life but sports remain a big part of it.

“I always wanted my sons to do sports and be able to play an instrument,” Stanislava said. “It was impossible to imagine (David) would be only sitting in the corner and suffer.”

Kratochvil is more than happy with the choice.

"What I love about swimming is that it’s a full body sport,” he said, though he doesn't like the start of morning training.

“I never feel like jumping into the cold water," he said.

Among his hobbies, he plays guitar, piano and accordion, likes chess and wants to learn to play the organ. A good student, he’s interested in biology and currently considering studying psychology.

Despite his young age, Kratochvil qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 but withdrew to allow another Czech Paralympic swimmer, at age 58, to participate instead because it was likely the last chance to compete. Kratochvil received an award from the Czech Fair Play Committee for the gesture.

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AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games