ARTICLE
Behind the scenes at Invenda with Bojan Zdelar, a canoe sprint athlete
Today’s behind the scene follows another inspiring story. We present you amazing canoe sprint athlete and Olympic champion, Bojan Zdelar. Starting with the new year, 2022, we became part of Bojan’s success story through Invenda’s sponsorship program for young talents. When meeting Bojan for the first time, it was great to learn how a passionate attitude toward goals can be essential to one’s success. With today’s blog story we are discovering the interesting world of Bojan Zdelar. We are proud to support the path of finding passion and fighting challenges because we believe that it produces the best in each of us.
How did this amazing water activity become your biggest passion?
Since I was a child, I spent a lot of time on the river in my hometown, where most canoe activities took place. While in elementary school, my brother and a few friends started training this wonderful canoe sport, and they persuaded me to try it out. On the first try, I fell in love with the freedom and feeling on the water. As I invested more and more time and effort, the results and successes began to come. My achievements motivated me to improve my performance daily, and working on myself became the priority in my life.
As someone living your passion day to day, what advice would you give to your generation building their way to success?
My advice for them would be to be brave enough to follow their wishes and to believe in their abilities and goals. Everyone is capable of great things, but we have to be hard-working and persistent. Of course, on the way to success, there will be many obstacles and moments when a person might think that the goal is unattainable or that they can no longer fight for it. It is crucial not to lose faith in those moments.
At the age of twenty, you already experienced the Olympic games. What is the most memorable moment of the Olympic games?
Since I started competing in this sport, one of my first wishes was to participate in the Olympic Games. It was a great honor for me to be one of the youngest members of the Serbian Olympic team at the Tokyo Olympics. One of the things that I will never forget while being at the Games was the energy present in the Olympic Village, especially in the Serbian team. Even though we hadn’t met people from other sports disciplines before, we immediately became a team, encouraging each other to represent our country to the best of our abilities. We celebrated everyone’s successes and comforted when things didn’t go as planned.
Besides the busy schedule of everyday training and preparation for the championship, you also find time to study and develop your second passion, Software and Information Engineering. What keeps you motivated to fight two battles?
Another passion in my life since I was a child has been computers. I have always been fascinated by what is achievable with constantly advancing technology. That led me to expand my knowledge in this field in my high school and now in college. Although sports and studies occupy almost all of my time, these are two things I love to do – hence I don’t have a hard time putting in the effort and time.
On your way to success, how important is the support of others?
No sporting or any other success is the result of the work of just one person. In sports, to achieve success, the support of family, friends, coaches, team, and many others is crucial. I’m very happy and privileged to have the support of the Invenda company in the coming period. I hope that, besides my country, I will represent the company with dignity with my sports results.
What are some plans and challenges for 2022?
Regarding my sports season, the first challenge is the national competition for spots in the Serbian team. If everything goes well, my first international race of the year will be World Cup in the Czech Republic in May. In June, our country will host the European Under-23 Championships in Belgrade. This season’s most important competitions – World Seniors Championships (Canada) and European Seniors Championships (Germany) will happen in August. The last international competition of the season is the World Under-23 Championships in Hungary in September. In addition, my wish is to finish the third year of studying equally successfully.
