Hello taekwondo lovers.

Our guest for the first english episode is Nikita Glasnovic.

Nikita Glasnovic is a swedish born taekwondo fighter. She won a bronze medal in the Muju 2017 World Championships.

She started practicing taekwondo very young. Her father Mario Glasnovic started a taekwondo club in Sweden where he trained his brothers. She was familiar with taekwondo since she was born. Taekwondo was always here environment.

She’s always liked the sparring side of taekwondo. She suffered poomsae because it was hard for her to learn the poomsaes, but with a lot effort she achieved her black belt.

Focus: Nikita’s first taekwondo competition.
Attending her first competition of taekwondo. She remember that the first thing she saw when entered the place of the competition, was a huge trophy and she thought “I want that for me”.

After the day, she won the trophy. And she remember it as a revealing discovery at her young age. If you want something and you really try to get it, of course you can get it.

That discovery helped her forward. For example when she won the world’s bronze. It was not her best day. But she focused in her goals.

Starting competition internationally
After winning her first European Youth Championships she realized she wanted to achieve bigger goals in taekwondo.

Results and the sparring experience are important in memories. But sometimes when you are young the things you remember more are the travel.

She told us about her experience in the World Youth Championships in Tijuana 2010. Arriving to the Los Angeles airport, crossing the border and the welcoming people of Mexico.

Road to the world’s bronze medal.
After not winning a medal in Rio Olympics. She lost support from Sweden Federation. So the road to Muju 2017 World Championships was not easy.

She and her whole family put a big effort in the preparation. Sometimes having to train outdoors because the impossibility to have a gym.

Even with a great preparation for the day of the competition. Things were not going like her wanted.

Sometimes you prepare for something but you don’t feel like your performance is the way normally have.

The competition day in Muju Nikita didn’t feel that she was having her best day. But anyway she managed to reach the medals stage.

That give us an idea of her mental strength.

Origins
Besides taekwondo. Nikita enjoys literature. Reading help her to disconnect from taekwondo. She likes Mario Vargas Llosa.

She is a person who study a lot of different fields, literature, language, rethorics, sports science, sport psychology.

She is not worried about not having a diploma, the important thing for her is to enjoy learning. Personally I agree with her, first you have to enjoy learning.

She is very interested also in ancient ingredients. Like Maíz (corn), Mole, and Mezcal. She was planning a trip to Mexico to discover this kind of flavors.

Full interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Enjoy!

Share us your thoughts on the interview in the comments section.