Wrestling News: Aline Focken is the best women wrestler Germany has ever produced. The four-time world medallist qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after winning bronze at the Nur-Sultan worlds and is now eyeing for her first Olympic medal next year. The wrestler is currently training with her husband Jan and bruises over the body has become a normal thing for her. She says that her husband is a Greco-Roman wrestler and therefore the techniques are different especially when it comes to loads and movements. “He has adapted superbly to help me train in counter-attacks and other techniques. But there have been accidents on some occasions and we fought due to it as he did not react as a freestyle wrestler. In an interview with 24Passion, German news daily Aline talks about how she is preparing for the Olympics amid Coronavirus amongst other things
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24Passion: How has your personal corona odyssey been in the past few weeks? How have you dealt with the situation so far?
Aline Rotter-Focken: Of course, a lot has changed for me. Because my employer went into short-time work, I also worked less. In addition, the Olympic bases and the sports halls were closed. Normal training was no longer possible. Because my mother-in-law has a gym, I was able to train there on a borrowed wrestling mat. Still, I just had time, which wasn’t bad. So I could come down and concentrate on other things that you can hardly get done in stress.
24Passion: What does that do to a top athlete who returns home with a bronze medal from the European Championships in Rome in February, focuses on the Olympic Games and is then forced to step on the gas first?
Aline Rotter-Focken: The time was totally strange. Shortly after the European Championship, I was actually fully focused again and in preparation for the Olympic Games and suddenly you are in the longest break in an athlete’s life. But I have to say that I realized that my body and especially my mind needed a breather. In the end, it didn’t hurt me. Preparing for a whole year longer is certainly a change, but on the other I can use this time to get even better and fitter.
24Passion: In addition to training, you also work in your trained profession as a sports therapist. Here you also come into direct contact with people. Doesn’t that involve the fear that you will become infected and then fail for weeks?
Aline Rotter-Focken: It is now the case that I am a health manager in a company in Schonach and therefore no longer work directly with people physically. I wasn’t afraid of myself from the start. I was more worried about my relatives, especially my mom, who works in a disability facility and is therefore in daily contact with other people.
24Passion: Your good friend and wrestling colleague Frank Stäbler shares the same fate with you. You both wanted to end your career with a medal at the Olympic Games this summer. This dream had to be postponed for a year. How difficult was it for you to decide to extend your career by one year?
Aline Rotter-Focken: I think it is less difficult for me than it is for Frank. I’ve been spared injuries in the past, and I’m a little younger, which doesn’t mean anything per se. Nevertheless, it was a shock at first and then it was said for a brief moment that the games should be postponed to 2022. Then I would have said, also for private reasons, that I don’t want to continue for so long.
But when it became clear that the games would “only” be postponed by a year until 2021, I quickly decided that I would see this as a gift. Especially because of a great time with my wrestling girls, my team. The fact that I’m only relatively new in a different weight category (up to 76 kilograms) has really put me into the cards. I now have a year more to prepare for the Olympics.
24Passion: After the medal success at the EM, you were also traded as a favourite for precious metals for the 2020 games in Tokyo. How do you see your chances due to the postponement by one year?
Aline Rotter-Focken: The chances were good before the move. But what I can say with absolute certainty is that my chances will increase again due to the postponement. The fact that I have only been wrestling in the highest weight category and worked hard on myself since 2018 means that I now realize that I can reap the fruits of my work. In contrast to my competitors, I have been able to train very well in recent months and have also been able to develop mentally. So I’m totally optimistic. But you can’t say that in our sport, because it depends on the form of the day and other factors. There are six to eight world-class athletes in our weight class who will fight for the medals. Nevertheless, the shift was a blessing for me from a sporting point of view.
24Passion: As a world champion in 2014, you drove to Rio de Janeiro with justified medal hopes for the last games, but then you were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Have you dealt with this Olympic disappointment or are you still burdened?
Aline Rotter-Focken: I think back on it and can still feel the pain and disappointment, but I would say that I have already worked it over a long time ago. On the other hand, it also gave me a huge incentive. In the end, it was just a tournament in my life – the most important one at the time, of course. Now I think that the experience is very important for Tokyo, because you have to experience the atmosphere that prevails at the games, and I have. I couldn’t really enjoy the last games, I put too much pressure on myself. This may have contributed to my failure in this early phase in 2016.
24Passion: What have you improved significantly since 2016, why should you always have yourself on the bill?
Aline Rotter-Focken: I have developed a lot more wrestling and with the new weight class in which I am wrestling, the starting point is different. I can wrestle with my normal weight, do not have to go through starvation diets and that is easy on the body. I have also gained a lot of experience in recent years. Sure, you have your techniques and tactics, but you also become smarter. In addition, I have now also used the time to further develop myself mentally with my mental trainer, who also supports Frank Stäbler. I also watched a lot of fights from my opponents and analyzed them.
24Passion: You are particularly looking forward to the games in Tokyo because women’s wrestling is very important in Japan. Why is that and do you see the potential for this in Germany?
Aline Rotter-Focken: I honestly don’t think so. In my opinion, there is no other country where wrestling is so important. It’s also because of how incredibly successful this country is in our sport and what is invested in wrestling. In Japan there are around 300 full-time trainers for women only, wrestlers are shown as advertising media on large banners or advertising spaces, as is usually the case only in the USA. It’s just a completely different league and unfortunately unthinkable in Germany.
24Passion: What does your professional and private planning look like after Tokyo 2021. After your active career, can you imagine working as a trainer for young wrestlers?
Aline Rotter-Focken: Definitely, that was already a bit under discussion. My employer also offered me a full-time job. A job offer also came from the German Wrestling Association. I feel exposed to a luxury problem and am therefore spoiled for choice. In the past, I was sometimes allowed to moderate smaller events, which was a lot of fun for me. But actually the plan was to Tokyo, to have no plan. Wrestling will certainly always be an issue, but after Tokyo, family planning is at the top of the list. Then without bruises from my husband (laughs).