There are more than 230 gold medallists from last year’s European Games in Kraków-Małopolska competing at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Europe’s best athletes had the opportunity to compete in the continent’s premier multi-sport event one year ahead of the Olympic Games in a spectacular showcase of sport.
One of the athletes who enjoyed a memorable victory in Poland was Latvia’s Agate Caune, the winner in the women’s 5,000m European Games gold at Stadion Śląski.
“It is always a pleasure and I am happy representing my country,” she recalled of her success at Kraków-Małopolska 2023. “I didn’t expect to win the gold medal in Silesia.
“I was so surprised that I did, but I am happy that I ran an amazing time and got the maximum points for my team. It was a really great run, and it gave me the energy to work better and do my job better.”
Caune caught headlines at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest later that year, moving into a big lead early in her 5,000m heat and eventually finishing with a personal best 15:00.48 to progress to the final, in which she was unfortunately unable to compete because of injury.
She explained: “The experience I got in the semi-finals and to see how strong I ran was important to me. I started to be the leader in the group after 100m and at that moment I was thinking I was a little bit crazy, but I believe in myself and I finished in 15 minutes. It was a great atmosphere there, and I think one of the greatest runs of my career.
Paris 2024 has provided Caune with her first opportunity of competing at the Olympic Games, where she ran 15:38:19 in a highly competitive women’s 5,000m heat. Having overcome injury difficulties at the beginning of the year, she vowed to enjoy every moment and believes she will be stronger for her experience at the first Games held in Europe for more than a decade.
“I’m just 19 so I’m enjoying every moment here, to see the athletes you follow on Instagram, you can take a picture with them, you can speak with them, and I enjoy the Olympic atmosphere here,” she said.
“It is so fantastic. I am really happy that this experience helps me to set new goals and understand how much I need to work more to run faster and be stronger.”
The Olympic Games is just the beginning of an exciting pipeline of major sports events set to keep Europe at the heart of global sport in the coming years, with the next edition of the European Games in Istanbul in 2027 set to build on the success of Kraków-Małopolska 2023.
Caune relishes the opportunity of competing in a multi-sport environment with the Latvian team, and underlined the strength of European athletes in her discipline at present.
“It is always good to be together with all the team of Latvia from all the disciplines in athletics and other sports,” she said.
“I think speaking about the level in 5,000m in Europe is so high. The girls are so fast, so you just need to work hard to try to be able to run together with them and show your best results.”
