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Australian javelin thrower Michal Burian was born in the Czech city of Mlada Boleslav, north of Prague, which has quite a reputation.
“It’s the city where the world record holder Jan Zelezny comes from,” Burian said, of the Olympian who won gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.
Now Mlada Boleslav has a Paralympian to boast about, although Burian adds the Zelezny legacy is not technically the reason he got into the sport.
“In the school I went to in that city there was a bit focus on athletics. As a kid I was first throwing a cricket ball, not a javelin, and I was throwing really, really far.
“So naturally they just selected me to come and try javelin.”
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His mother and grandparents were sports-orientated so Burian grew up heavily involved in outdoor activities like volleyball, skiing, cycling. But he can’t recall anyone being a good thrower.
“Since childhood I just loved throwing rocks across the river, it just obsessed me.”
Javelin became his ‘thing’ and he earned selection for the Czech Republic able-bodied team for the 2009 European Junior Championships but suffered an injury in the lead-up.
His “bad leg” as he refers to his right-side club foot, had some cartilage damage.
He moved to Australia in 2012 to continue his mechanical engineering studies in Melbourne and to learn to speak English.
“I was struggling just to order food on the plane so I knew it was going to be hard.”
The easy bit was linking with coach Nick Baltas and the Sandringham Athletics Club.
“I had this friend in Melbourne who was kind of my spokesperson and he contacted the club and said ‘I’ve got this guy who can throw javelin pretty far’.”
The rest is history and Burian will compete in the F64 class for men’s javelin in the Tokyo Paralympic Stadium on Monday August 30.
“It’s such a complex event. Sometimes you throw the farthest when you’re not trying to throw the farthest. It’s so much technique… the mind comes into it as well.
“But then you see the perfect throw because the javelin is just flying – it looks like it’s not falling to earth any time soon.”
As for competing against athletes from his native Czech Republic?
“It’s home but not really (sentimental) to be honest. Since day one when I came to Australia I knew I wasn’t going back,” Burian said.
“I just loved the country, the mentality of the people here is very different. I really appreciated people being so nice to me – the friendliness.”
The Tokyo Paralympics Games get underway from the 24 August and will run through until 5 September. Catch all the action on Seven and 7Plus.
By: Margie McDonald, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 23 August 2021
