Heart swears by climbing, head is afraid of falling

Interestingly, this is said by Mia Krampl, a top sports climber who has twice qualified for the Olympics. The black -haired man impresses with interesting climbing movements and open friendly gestures. I’m what I am, he says. She is not a tracker to others, but only follows her heart: each tattoo carries a personal message, and in her spare time she likes to ride an engine or wear Fridays.

With the increasing popularity of sports climbing, more and more people are also knowing MIO. “I used to feel the pressure that I had to prove myself and achieve results – for others. But in my head, I did it. Now that pressure comes from the inside. I load a lot to myself. « 

Are you so demanding to yourself in life?

Hold up. I am not very competitive, but I quickly get to the point where I am not happy with myself and my work. What I do, I want to do better. I have been competing from a young age, I have developed a strong sporting character. Because of this, I also make progress. I’m simply very strict towards myself.

You went through the Olympic qualifications just before the now, which caused a lot of pressure, but it was also your sporting and personal development. What are you most proud of in this process?

I am most proud of the two -time successful qualifications on the elite match, which is only once every four years. The pressures are ten times bigger there. The qualifications themselves were really stressful. I was under constant stress for half a year, I didn’t sleep a week before the match. I already had a dummy in my throat with the thought of Olympic qualifications. But the moment I entered the boulder, I managed to calm down and forget about four years of hard work and pressure. I fully focused on climbing.

But I’m not most proud of my Olympic result. I climbed the way I was ready. But I was not happy with my shape, because, as I said, I always want more. Not only I want to qualify at the Olympics, but I also want to make a good result there. But I am proud of how I managed to manage pressure and stress.

And I am also proud of my ability to fully focus when it is necessary – not just in sports, but in life in general.

How do you deal with competitive stress?

I feel stress from match to match. Sometimes they tell me that I look like the biggest ‘phlegma’ when I warm up and laugh. Sometimes I’m subconsciously stressed and I don’t even know it. But sometimes I feel a dumpling in my throat and pressure in my lungs that I can’t breathe. Then there is the fact that two nights before the match I sleep an hour to two a night. This is normal and I got used to it.

Do you have any fuse to calm down before the match?

I don’t try to calm down. I tried, but it didn’t work. Stress is basically adrenaline, so I try to divert my head – if I’m stressed, this is good because I need adrenaline in the race. If I get to the match relaxed, I can’t do my best. I perform best under the influence of adrenaline. To accelerate and help me.

Stress is an indication that the match really means a lot to me that I want to achieve a good result and that I have been preparing for it a lot. A lot of this also helps me a psychotherapist who seeks to divert my thoughts. To know that this is okay – sometimes it’s not, but that’s the way it is. And that’s okay too. Often in life, something is not right, but life goes on. I also want to look at things in climbing.

Photo: Grega Valančič

Are you ever afraid?

This is the right question for me. Yes. I was not afraid of height, but I was very scared of falling. When I was little, I was able to climb only to ‘top robbery’, I didn’t dare to go. When the matches started at the age of ten and I had to start climbing forward, it was a big drama. My coach and I used to be in a rock in one direction for an hour because I didn’t dare to fall. I couldn’t go into the wall because it was too heavy, but I didn’t dare. I cried every time I had to fall. I was not afraid of height, not even in the wall when I looked down. I was scared when you have no control when you are in the air and fall.

I was angry with myself because I didn’t know why I was scared. I simply couldn’t get my fingers in the wall and get down. I was angry with the whole world. It was a really difficult experience. They asked me why I persisted if I was not ‘fine’. I can’t explain, but I still enjoyed climbing. I am very grateful to the coach who insisted on me at the time.

Would you say for yourself that you are bold?

At first glance, I may really seem like this, maybe because of the tattoos. I also have an engine exam. And I’m really interested in bolder things. But it seems to me that I am also bold in terms that I can challenge people.

Where is the edge or The limit when there is too much for you?

In the first place, my health and family are in my place. I think about when it comes to injuries – here is wise to decide in favor of a long career and not just look at short -term success. So I’m not just aiming for a good result in one match, I want to have a long and successful career. No medal outweighs a long career and a normal life after it. I also put a lot on a healthy diet and a sufficient amount of food.

Photo: Grega Valančič

In one of the interviews, you said you had no motto and that ‘you are what you are’. Where did this self -esteem, uniqueness?

This is not the easiest in today’s world. We all compare each other and want to get ‘normal’. We are all constantly in our eyes and we put a lot of the opinions of others. It seems like even too much. I try to think about it and really be as I am. I have friends who appreciate it, and that’s why they are my friends. But I don’t have to like everyone. I also never searched for a motto. I don’t want to live by someone else’s principle. I want to develop my thinking and my character – being me.

What about tattoos? Jaguar, a gisha, butterfly … each has its own story, right?

I have always wanted to have a tattoo of wild cats on my leg – as part of my boldness. I wanted to be as bold and offensive as those. When I saw Jaguar, I fell in love with him. Jaguar has the strongest bite among all wild cats – I also want to be the strongest in the wall and this is my connection, the motivation for climbing. In a way, it represents me.

I dedicated my career to my career. climbing. I love Japan very much as a country, as a culture, and there I have achieved some of my best results: my first medal at the 2019 World Cup when I was second and the first Olympics.

I dedicated my hand to people who mean a lot to me. I chose left because it’s closer to my heart. It has plants on it, flowers that symbolize my family, to have them with me, wherever I go. I also have a butterfly on this hand, which connects me to the Rakovec light. We connected through the difficult testing of qualifying for the 2019 Olympics. We said we wanted to have something that reminds us of each other and our overall growth.

What does it look like when he goes out in the evening?

Depending on the opportunity. I like to go out of home tracksuit or climbing clothes. I am actually ninety percent of my time in training for training or at home in dirty, muddy tracksuits for walking with my puppy.

When I go to the cake or ice cream in the evening, I like to dress beautifully. I like to feel like a woman, not just as an athlete, a climber. I love jewelry – earrings, necklaces and rings. I almost always have any of that. I also like to wear Fridays for a celebratory event.

Photo: Grega Valančič

Could you compare your style of climbing and your driving style: in which aspects are you similar and in which different?

I am always very attentive at the wheel, with my head on the road, but often in addition to driving I do anything else, for example, I listen to podcast, music, I have karaoke… I also have a focus on the wall when climbing, but if anyone talks in my vicinity, I start listening to it.

I have to ‘stick back’ when driving. If the cruise control did not exist, it would be a very fast driver with a ‘too heavy’ leg. Also, I am quickly head -to -be in training. I want to do something too quickly. The coach is my climbing cruise control that directs me and silences me when I become stubborn. I love speed as fun, even when driving, but when it comes to crashing, I prefer normal climbing and normal driving.

Now you live in Vransko, where the center of safe driving is…

Yes, I’ve already watched drifting courses. Maybe this comes once.

What character should your ideal car have?

The car is primarily a means that makes it easier for me to live and bring me from point A to point B. It is important that it has cruise control and seat heating. But it’s automatic. In the future, I also think about a hybrid car. My dream car, however, is sporty, fast and agile to represent me in some way.

It would be great to have an autonomous vehicle that would take you to training, and in the meantime you would do something else, right?

Yes, I could eat breakfast along the way, write a message… But probably my fear would come to the surface again. I don’t know if I would trust him completely. I would surely control it with the corner of the eye. I love the one who has control.

Photo: Grega Valančič

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