Zuzana Rehák Štefečeková won Slovakia's first medal at 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. (source: TASR)
When she saw the flying target turn into dust within a split second, she knew she had won.
Zuzana Rehák Štefečeková comes from Nitra and she hits (nearly) anything that moves. On Thursday morning, she won her first Olympic gold in Tokyo. The 37-year-old trap shooter won the qualifier round with a world-record-breaking result and advanced to the final where she hit 43 targets to achieve the success of her life.
"I am full of immense joy. I am very happy about my gold, but also about having proved to myself that I can shoot a final," she said after the final for the public-service broadcaster RTVS.
Tokyo is her third Olympics. She has won Olympic medals before - silver at the 2008 Beijing games and the 2012 London games. In Japan, she will vie for another medal in the mixed team trap with her teammate Erik Varga.
Rehák Štefečeková is a woman with a clear head and heart. The first makes her an excellent athlete, the latter makes her an excellent person. "Zuzka seeks the positive in everything and she can give herself to others. Once they start cloning people, she should be first in line and peace in the world would be secured," her friend and fellow shooter Jana Špotáková said about her years ago.
During her studies, she switched from tourism to social work. She was preparing for a mission in Africa, which she did not do in the end, but adopted a girl and a boy through a distance adoption programme.
