Multi-talented Czech athlete Denisa Rosolova is the official ambassador for the European Athletic U23 Championships to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic, from 14-17 July, 2011.
The 24-year-old, who is a former world junior champion in long jump and finished fifth in the 400m at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, said: “I am very excited. Being an ambassador of such an important athletic event is fantastic. I hope I can be a good example for the competitors, though actually some of them are of the same age as myself. They can see that one can become quite successful even among senior athletes just with hard work and dedication.”
“When the LOC offered me this role, I did not hesitate a minute. I take it as a prestigious opportunity to be part of all this,” added the twenty-four-year old, Karvina-born athlete.
The choice of the ambassador was not a tough one for the local organizers.
“Denisa has had a close relationship with Ostrava. Her birth place Karvina is not far from here and she has competed a lot in Ostrava. She has proven credentials as an athlete both at the junior level and senior level among the elite athletes of the world. I am very happy that she agreed to be an ambassador for the championships,” said Oldrich Zvolanek, event operations director for Ostrava 2011.
“More over she is an intelligent and charming young lady who could help us with the promotions of the European Athletics U23 Championships,” she added.
After starting out as a heptathlete, Denisa decided to concentrate on long jump and her decision paid dividends immediately as she became a junior world champion in 2004. She went on to win a silver medal at the 2007 European Athletics U23 Championships in the Hungarian city of Debrecen and followed it up with a bronze at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham in the same year.
She switched back to heptathlon in 2008 and made it to the top ten at the European indoors in Torino in 2009. However a spate of injuries prevented her from competing regularly in the multi-events and she was forced to make another switch. This time she picked the 400m, and it’s a tribute to her resolve that she has been able to make her mark at the international stage in a short time.
At the Golden Spike Meeting in Ostrava earlier this year, Denisa clocked a brilliant 50.58 to take the gold medal and in the process also achieved the qualifying standard for the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona where she made it to the finals and finished fifth with a time of 50.90.