Latvia's Greatest National Asset: Jeļena Prokopčuka

When Jeļena Prokopčuka won the 2005 New York Marathon her unexpected success helped inspire an entire nation. In this exclusive interview Justin Walley talks to the greatest Latvian female athlete of her generation, a young lady who is amongst the top long distance runners in the world.

This interview has been published in the free "Gateway Riga" magazine (Autumn/Winter 2008/2009) which you get flying out of Riga.

I was born in Latvia in 1976. My childhood was happy. People will of course say negative things about Soviet times but as a child they were great times. I was a child with toys who had her mum, dad and brother near her. I had love. It was an interesting and unforgettable time. As Young Pioneers in the Soviet days we did a lot of things and it was free. In fact, everything was free and provided for by the state. I think it was much easier for parents in those days than it is today.

When independence came I was fifteen years old. It wasn't a difficult time for me personally because I was a teenager. It was a different matter for my parents, because after independence the factory where my parents worked was closed. They both had no job after that. Of course, everything has changed since for my family, and now we are all ok and happy.

I was at school. Previously we wore a uniform but that was abolished and we could wear what we wanted. It was then that you noticed who was rich and who was poor. After the uniform was abolished we were no longer equal. I think children at school should be worrying about knowledge, not about what they are wearing.

I began running at eleven. It was a great decision for my parents and for me. It meant they always knew where I was and didn't need to worry. It kept me out of trouble. I was always either at school, home, doing homework or training.

I certainly wasn't the best girl in my group then. I was probably in the middle as I was neither strong nor quick. I was just a girl who enjoyed running. My talent was my energy for the sport. This is very important and was the reason why my life changed.

Three years later I was the best female runner in Latvia at three, five and ten thousand metres as well as the half-marathon. I have five Latvian national records. I remember competing in three-day competitions where I ran every day: 800 metres, 1500 metres, the 4 x 400m relay... and even the 100m relay!

But the big improvement was after I came home from a Ukraine training camp and won the Latvian Cross Country. I beat some very strong girls.

In New York I didn't think about the others, I just did my job. On that day I was simply the strongest. I realized it was possible to beat Paula Radcliffe and that she isn't a machine.