Michal Brousil dominated the World Firefighting Games in Portugal!

In this article we will briefly explain what TFA means and interview our successful firefighter Michal Brousil, who dominates the world firefighting games and represents the Czech Republic so well. Michal is not only a great athlete, but also a nice guy. You can see that in the interview below, where he answered a few prepared questions.

Hi Michal, could you briefly introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Michal. I'm 32 years old, I'm 190 cm tall and I weigh 100 kilos. I come from a small village called Lom near Mirotice, but I live most of my life in Písek. I work as a professional firefighter and I am in the representation of the Fire Brigade of the Czech Republic in TFA disciplines (toughest firefighter survives). I love my family, I love my motorcycles, I love all kinds of sports. I have been a fighter since birth...my mother's words.

Could you please give us an outline of what TFA is and what led you to world-class racing?

TFA stands for toughest firefighter alive. The loose translation, as I said, is: toughest firefighter alive. TFA is an extreme race for professional, but also volunteer firefighters, where they perform disciplines that simulate the work of firefighters in a rescue. The race consists of four sections where you perform each discipline. For example, stretching and twisting 20-meter hoses, banging with a stick, carrying various weights, transporting a dummy that has the weight of an adult or climbing a three-meter barrier... and finally, a run to a high-rise building, a lookout tower or anything high enough. Everything is done in a hazmat suit with a breathing apparatus on your back. You're carrying an extra load of approximately 18 kg. I tried my first race in 2011. It was an awful massacre... so something for me. Eventually TFA took over for me and it started to get pretty good. Suddenly you're standing at the start of the World Games...

This year you dominated the whole race in Portugal, what disciplines did you have to master and which was the most challenging for you?

This year the World Firefighting Games were held in Lisbon. This competition is like the Olympics for us. At the Games you can enter all kinds of sports, for example: basketball, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, powerlifting... what will interest the readers of Bodybuilding is bodybuilding. Outside of TFA, in Lisbon I participated in a stair climbing competition in the city centre, where I managed to win 3rd place in my age category.

I also did an arm wrestling competition where I defended my gold medal on the right arm from the 2018 World Firefighting Games held in Korea and added a hard-fought victory on the left arm. Tough mainly because I tore, quite a lot, a pectoral muscle. The day before TFA, it wasn't exactly the cheeriest. I entered the race anyway, it's always the most weighted sport of the games. It was a huge struggle, but I came to Lisbon for TFA, I just gave it a go. Of all the sections, the last fourth section is always the most challenging for me, the run up the high-rise building. I'm quite a heavy racer, focused more on power and speed, so I suffer badly here. In Lisbon there were 9 floors to run up and to make it worse, the organisers added about 350m of run-up. Just something for me.

You defended your gold in the TFA event from the last championships, could you please give us some insight into how long you have been doing these events and what successes you have had?

The truth is that it wasn't exactly a defence. I'm happy to explain. Every odd years there is a World Games for firefighters and police officers - which I managed to win in 2019 in China. And every even years there are World Games "only" for firefighters, which I managed to win this year. I was the winner in both the 30-34 year old category, and I also won the overall ranking among all competitors. I've been doing TFA since about 2015, when I focused my training strictly on the toughest firefighter. For me, any race that I complete and where I know I gave it my all is successful. Otherwise, I managed to win 1st place in 2017 at the Czech Fire Service Championships in my age category, 1st place in 2018 at the European Championships in my category and 4th place at the World Firefighting Games in Korea. In 2019, I became the winner of the Czech Fire and Rescue Service Cup, the overall winner of the Fire and Rescue Service Championship and the overall winner of the World Fire and Police Games in China. Then came the covid, so I toured the "smaller" competitions that were held despite the pandemic, and this year, fortunately, everything returned to normal.

How challenging it actually is for a trained athlete like you who has been playing sports all his life.

It's really extreme racing, which is what I love about it. You know, I try to give it my all in every race. That's my goal. This is when I get it right, I'm happy... So it's really challenging for me because I'm trying to keep pushing myself. I'm trying different training methods, whether it's strength, speed or endurance training, where my brother Jakub helps me a lot, I'm trying to listen to my body, how it reacts to everything, I'm working on recovery, but there I have big reserves, I'm dealing with food, supplements and last but not least I'm strengthening my psyche. How I managed to do that will show in the race.

The whole expedition went, both men and women. Is there any association or club in the Czech Republic where you can join and train with you? As a beginner, how can I start and work my way up to competing abroad?

Our team was absolutely great. I appreciate every member I had by my side. Thank you all so much. Please allow me to mention the huge achievements of the other representatives: women 18 - 29 years old Eliska Vrbová 2nd place, Kateřina Vodičková 3rd place, Petra Čaganová 4th place and Nikol Endlicherová 5th place, women 30 - 34 years old Lucie Bůbelová 2nd place. 1st place, men 50 - 54 years old Josef Cernicek 1st place, men 45 - 49 years old Antonin Rendl 2nd place, men 40 - 44 years old Dusan Pokorny 5th place, men 30 - 34 years old Michal Janovac 9th place, men 18 - 29 years old Pavel Kourik 1st place and 2nd place overall.

Now to your question. The only condition to try these races is that you must be either a professional or volunteer firefighter. And you should have a fighter in you . Advice and tips on training should be given to you by any proper racer who has done some racing. I'm happy to help others as well. Just say. The more of us, the better. Some volunteer units have group training sessions, which is great. If you do well, you can make it to the national team, where we have training camps. You can race abroad right away if you feel up to it. But I'd rather try to run something here at home first and gain some experience and then try to go out into the world...

Michal, thank you very much for the interview, on behalf of our whole team we congratulate all Czech competitors and you have a nice day and good luck!

Thank you very much for your interest, I'm glad that I can make this difficult but beautiful sport more visible. I would like to thank my sponsors and supporters, whose help I really appreciate. And a big respect to all those who are dedicated to TFA and to all those who will stand at the start. I would like to thank everyone for their great support. Live life....