«Iron Lady» Katinka Hosszu: "I can still get tougher"

MACHINE: Katinka Hosszu was dubbed "the machine" in Bergen following her hectic
schedule at the Alexander Dale Oen Memorial. (Photo: Kjell Eirik Irgens Henanger, BSF)

Katinka Hosszu dived in the water an astonishing total of 36 times during the Bergen Swim Festival - Alexander Dale Oen memorial.

She was entered in 15 events, made the final in all of them, and with the 50 meter dashes being arranged as skins the races really added up for the girl dubbed swimming's «Iron Lady». For the skins she only miscalculated in the first heat of the 50 meters butterfly, otherwise she made the final event for those too.

She wasn't taking it easy either setting a total of seven meet records along the way.

The Hungarian swim ace is well known for her toughness in terms of swimming a lot of races. She did the Swim Festival in Norway jetlagged the weekend after racing the Grand Prix-meets in Mesa, USA. There she swam nine events, and eight finals.

Her nickname seems to be well deserved, but she does deliver a warning to those who think shes pushing herself to the limit.

"I felt pretty good about being called the Iron Lady when I first heard it", admits Katinka Hosszu in the interview I did with her for Norwegian TV 2.

"But I feel like I still could be tougher. Sometimes I start to feel like I'm really tired and I don't really want to do it or push it any more. I have it in me to be tougher."

You can watch the full interview here.

If you want further proof that this girl is special, here's a treat:

Speed Endurance-writer Sander Englund Smørdal
interviews Katinka Hosszu for TV 2 following the meet.

She won best performance of the short course meet following her 2.07,47 in the 200 IM. That was her 30th(!) race of the weekend and just minutes after a 400 freestyle (which was one of the few events she controlled an easy victory in 4.22,19).

That is a world class time in any circumstances, and in Sentralbadet with a shallow end its just plain out impressive, even though her PB is in the 2.04s.


"To do a 2.07 right now, and after a few events, is pretty good", says the humble 23 year old.

The intensive racing schedule has a two-sided effect. In Bergen she walked away with a total price money payout of 37.500 Norwegian kroner (around 6.500$ or 4200£), in addition its a great workout.

"Its all together [price money and training], I guess. It's really good for training and I like doing it during season cause when I go to a big championship meet I feel it is really easy to just swim one event. Its definitely a good preparation for a bigger meet, and I like to do it a lot. I like to race, and its really fun to do it" says Hosszu.

Hosszu was not happy with the 2012-Olympics, changed coaches and moved back to Hungary.

So far that seems to be a successful move with great success on the World Cup Circuit and in the World Short Course Championships. The 23 year old is optimistic going into the final months of preparation, but will not set a specific target - in public.

"I don't really like to talk about my goals in public, but I definitely have goal times in my mind. What I want to reach and if I reach those times I will probably be on the podium" predicts Hosszu.

You can watch the full interview here.

Furthermore she discusses the Bergen Swim Festival, her relationship with Alexander Dale Oen and her general happiness with her own performance.

Swim stars promise to return to Bergen Swim Festival

Winners of the best performance awards at Bergen Swim Festival: Rikke Møller Pedersen (DEN), Daniel Gyurta (HUN), Katinka Hosszu (HUN), Cameron van der Burgh (RSA), Michael Jamieson (GBR), Jeanette Ottesen (DEN).
(Photo: Kjell Eirik Irgens Henanger, BSF)

The Bergen Swim Festival was particularly star studded this year, due to it being the Alexander Dale Oen memorial.

A short course meet in late april is not ideal, but the swim stars were unanimous: They want to come back to Bergen.

Whether or not they were influenced by the emphatic crowd in the old pool that facilitates the BSF is hard to say, but most of the stars expressed a desire to return the next time the competition is arranged - even if by then it will not be a memorial meet.

The meet, established in 2007, will make the highly anticipated transition into a long course meet during the next year or so, as the City of Bergen (approx. 250.000 inhabitants) gets its first long course pool.

"Its not ideal with a short course meet now, as it is long course season basically" said Katinka Hosszu who used the meet as an intense training session swimming all 15 events - prelims and finals.

"When they get the long course pool here, this will be an ideal preparation for the upcoming summer-championship," said frequent guest Cameron van der Burgh swimming his fourth Bergen Swim Festival.

Photo: Kjell Eirik Irgens Henanger

Alexander Dale Oen will probably be close to the action although the meet will no longer bear his name. Whispers about the pool bearing Norways first, and only, long course world champions name are getting stronger.

This year, as it normally is at BSF, the mens 100 meters breaststroke was the main attraction. Cameron van der Burgh won in a meet record of 57,82, ahead of Daniel Gyurta.

"It was a tough and emotional race for me, but its nice to get a chance to honor Alexander by racing guys like Daniel Gyurta and Michael Jamieson. Not so much competing with them, but racing together in Alex's spirit", said van der Burgh immideately after the race.

See Norwegian TV 2s interview with him directly after the final here.


One of the things that makes the meet attractive is the Festival's festive setting for the finals session. With the pool being brought to complete darkness a smoke, and light show is put on while an announcer presents the swimmers. At the same time the public goes mad. This is what attracts the swimmers.

"Stefan Nystrand once said to me that noone else makes meets like these ones" said international liaison Jan Allers.

He confirmed that most international competitors had signaled a desire to return to the meet.

"Its not often you get to feel like a boxer preparing for a swim. It makes it a bit more exciting", said van der Burgh.

The meet organizers have lofty ambitions for the meet as they enter into the brand new national arena.

"We want to put Bergen on the international swimming map. In the long term we want it to be the biggest swim meet in Europe" said head of the organizing comittee Gjert Dahl.

A total of 19 meet records were set during the three days of competition. In addition Estonian backstroker Ralf Tribuntsov set three national records. One in the 50 backstroke (24,33) and two on the double distance (52,33 and 51,97).

Katinka Hosszu kicks off Bergen Swim Festival with two meet records

 Katinka Hosszu at Bergen Swim Festival. Photo: Kjell Erik Irgens Henanger

Katinka Hosszu impressed the audience setting two meet records during day one of the Bergen Swim Festival - Alexander Dale Oen memorial in Bergen, Norway. The competition is being swum in short course metres.

Despite it being prelims, and the fact she led both events by a country mile, the Hungarian swim princess went at it with all guns blazing setting a meet record in the 100 meters breaststroke (1:08.98) and the 200 meter freestyle (1:55.35).

She also qualified first for the 50 meters freestyle and the 100 meters backstroke finals, while she was second in the sprint butterfly behind Jeanette Ottesen. Hosszu is going to swim all 15 events this meet, and you would forgive her if she did not go all-out in all races.

Undoubtedly the danish breaststroke ace Rikke Møller Pedersen will give Hosszu more of a fight in the breaststroke final tomorrow. Pedersen's 1:10 Friday effort did not look too hard on her.....

Alexander Dale Oen Memorial.
Photo: Kjell Erik Irgens Henanger

In other races the favourites all qualified for the mens 100 meters breaststroke-event which will be the highlight of the meet in terms of quality across the field. Martti Ajland (EST) with the best time in the first session 1.00,77, narrowly edging Cameron van der Burgh. Also in that field: Daniel Gyurta, Michael Jamieson and Andrew Willis.

"I think I can do a 57 in the final", says van der Burgh who left the South-African Championships to participate in the memorial meet.

The best Norwegian finished tenth in the prelims, an event in which Norway is suffering in after losing Alexander Dale Oen, and Aleksander Hetland going into retirement.

The meet features some swimmers, like Hosszu and the breaststrokers, which really shows Norwegian swimmers where the international level is. It's quite a stretch for some.

See all results and livetiming at livetiming.no.

The meet continues at 8 AM GMT Saturday with finals commencing at 4 PM GMT.

Several media reports leading up to the meet has been focusing on the swim stars, and the breaststrokers in particular, and their relationships with Alexander Dale Oen.

TV 2 made a story from when Cameron van der Burgh visited Dale Oens grave. 

They also made a clip from when van der Burgh, Daniel Gyurta and Michael Jamieson visited their studio.

Olympic breaststroke champions to Norway in memory of Alexander Dale Oen

Daniel Gyurta and Cameron van der Burgh have both signaled to the organizers of Bergen Swim Festival that they intend to travel to Norway's second largest city in order to compete at the event held in mid-April.

The Bergen Swim Festival, BSF for short, is an annual event held at old Sentralbadet - a 25 meter pool opened in 1960. The meet, which had its first edition in 2007, has gathered quite a reputation in most Scandinavian countries, due to its nice prize money and also it's modern outlook. It's meant to have a more party-like feel to it, than most swim meets, normally.

Last year the meet was planned for the 4th-6th of May, just a few days after the death of Alexander Dale Oen. It got cancelled, but this year it is back on the schedule with the full name Bergen Swim Festival - Alexander Dale Oen Memorial.

The meet has attracted Nordic Swim stars as Jeanette Ottesen and Stefan Nystrand in the past, in addition to international swimmers like Oleg Lisogor, Cameron van der Burgh and Aschwin Wildeboer.

This year van der Burgh returns to the city where he once trained with his friend Alexander Dale Oen. Where he got hammered in training by Alexander Dale Oen. After his Olympic Gold he dedicated the medal to the Norwegian.

 This year he is joined by Daniel Gyurta, the 200-meter champion from London who said that he wanted to present Dale Oens family with a replica of his Olympic Gold Medal, saying the Norwegian deserved it.

According to the largest newspaper in the country, VG, Dale Oens family will be presented with the replica at "Idrettsgallaen" (Norwegian Sport Awards) on the 12th of January. Some part of the ceremony will serve as a remembrance for the swimming ace.

Now they both are coming to Bergen in memory and honour of the Shanghai World Champion.

The organizers make no attempt in hiding that the factor of Norway's greatest ever swimmer has a lot of bearing in the decisions of the swim stars to swim in Bergen.

– Of course, Alexanders personality and their connection to him is what matters the most when they decide to come to Norway, says BSFs international liaison Jan Allers to Norwegian TV 2.

They are however joined by a team of strong Danes. All of the locally based danish swimmers will make the trip to Norway, including three of the four World Champions from the 4x100 medley relay in Istanbul. The Danes have been regular visitors to the meet, although awkwardly placed for a short course-meet.

The organizers are hoping this years meet will set a standard for the meet to be at for the forthcoming years, where they will make the transition into a 50 meter pool.

– In the long term we want Bergen Swim Festival to be a big international swim meet, but the conditions will improve once we have the new pool ready, says leader of the organizing committee Gjert Dahl.

Next year the new national center for Swimming and Diving (pictured) will be finished in Bergen, with a state of the art 50 meter pool as the main focal point. The city of 250.000 people have no 50 meter pool as of yet, and strong forces are advocating for it to be named after the deceased Dale Oen. The organizers of BSF hope to have it operating for the 2014 edition of the meet.

This year however the main attraction will be, as it always has been, the 100 meter breaststroke for men. Alexander Dale Oen vs. Cameron van der Burgh vs. Oleg Lisogor were thrillers in the past. For this edition it will be a lot more subdued and undoubtedly a strange feeling for those involved, but still with high quality swimmers in the pool.

– It will be the roughest, hardest and most emotional race of the whole meet. We will try to make a frame around it worthy of the occasion, says Dahl.

If you want to read more about Bergen Swim Festival - Alexander Dale Oen Memorial, you can visit their homepage: http://www.bsf.no/en