Katerina Stefanidi reacted angrily to suggestions in social media that she cannot claim the title of Europe’s top athlete for 2017, as long as she lives mostly in the US.
The Olympic and World champion in pole vaulting responded to all those who questioned her patriotism, and explained why she trains in Greece and America.
She wrote on her Facebook account about the financial cost of her training in the US, which she has been covering by means of her own, during the recent years.
“I do not sweat or hurt less during my training in America,” she writes, stressing that it is the right of every athlete to choose where to train.
Stefanidi who has won a total of seven medals for Greece in all major international athletics championships, says that she spends almost half of her year in Greece, where she trains like many other athletes at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.
The rest of the year “I train at a private facility in the US where I pay 25 dollars a day”.
“Every athlete must train in the best place possible. I and my husband took this financial risk …because we both believe in the importance of investing in yourself. In all areas of life!” Stefanidi wrote on Facebook.
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