Strongman Jirka Tkadlcik on mission in Afghanistan - did he survive?
Author: One of the most famous faces of Czech strongman sport, Jiří Tkadlčík, has had a very colourful season. In Ukraine he set a new world record in deadlift in the strongman U105 category. He became theEuropean champion in the Official Strongman Association. He also organized several competitions in the Czech Republic with international participation. He became a father and a husband.
RecentlyJirka also had an event that he certainly did not plan and which was a huge challenge for him. He visited a military base in Afghanistan, where he showed and told the local soldiers something of strongman sport. And how was Jirka's participation in this country full of war? You can find out, either through a shorter interview or through Jirko's Video Vlog, which wasfilmed on the spot.
Hi, Jirka. Tell us, whose idea was it for you to go to Afghanistan to a military base and train with the soldiers who are on the mission?
Hi, guys. It was the idea of the Ministry of Defence, which invited me to this event. They asked me about a month and a half in advance if I wanted to go. They let me know what the conditions were, how it was going to work, what we could and could not do there.
I immediately wanted to take a loglift and a mono-handle with me, they allowed me to do that. They allowed me a cameraman, so it was perfect.
So what was the main focus of your visit to the military base in "Afghosh"?
The aim of the mission was simply to distract and entertain the Czech and American soldiers, to give them surprises and workshops where they could get some exercise and "forget" that there is a war raging around them. We wanted to entertain them and make the boys' ordinary grey days that they experience over there a bit more fun.
I also think they took me there to keep the Minister company on the plane, as we were on a government plane, but that was more for fun.
My tasks there were simple. Demonstration - to pull a 34 - 36 ton Panther, to lift a 100kg one-handed. Set a local record in the gym - the guys had to lift 1000 pounds in an hour in a triple jump, which is 454kg. This, however, was no challenge, so I decided to give it a go in two exercises - bench press and deadlift. Well, it'll take me less than a minute. I put on something like 1100 pounds. It was great, and the guys were very happy about it. I got a rogue belt for it.
Weren't you a little worried? After all, Afghanistan's not exactly a safe place to train.
As far as fear goes, of course there is a bit of it, anything can happen, it's a war zone, but I wasn't too scared. I just wanted to see it, so I had to take some risks, that's for sure.
Otherwise, I've always reassured myself that they can't let civilians get into big trouble. That was very reassuring to me. I often thought, well, they're not even going to let us off that base, and it's okay on that base, we'll be perfectly safe there. Even though that base gets shelled sometimes, there are still phalanxes ready to protect us from.
But we were given security briefings and instructions - when they told us that, we looked at each other and thought, well, this is going to be fun.
What about your wife, was she calm? It's not that long since you became a new dad.
My wife was pretty calm, too, or she didn't show it. She said I can't forbid you anyway, because you're going to go even if I forbid you, which she was right. Of course, there was some of that fear going on, but we said what and how. I tried my best to calm her down. She was even with me at the first security briefing, which was still in Prague, where she heard how things were going and that certainly calmed her down as well.
How did you feel about that?
It's a strange place. Sixteen thousand soldiers serving there. The military base is such a small town where there's like a Burger King or a great gym outfitted by Rogue.
On the one hand, if a guy is, like, twenty years old and has no commitments or family, I guess it can be great - he can make money, work out and eat well (they cook great food),but when you have a family, you think differently, well..
The atmosphere was so gloomy, it was raining. There were 5,000 mountains above us that you know you can't look up into... I personally would have been heartbroken if I couldn't have looked up there.
What kind of facilities do the soldiers have there?
The facilities to exercise are more than great - a great gym, crossfit zone, Hammr machines, huge expanse, good air and magnesium everywhere. There's several gyms like that.
Otherwise, as far as food goes, you can go there for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, plus there are perfect shops where you can buy anything. Even American stuff that you can't get here - American kickers and that kind of stuff. So as far as food is concerned, the soldiers there can't complain.
Did you pass on any of your know-how to the soldiers there, did you learn anything? Did that trip enrich you in any way?
Sure. I shot a Glock, a Scorpion and a Bren - so it was really cool. I've always wanted to try long guns. We also went through the Mrap and the Panther. That was very interesting.
You also get to chat a lot and broaden your view of life there by seeing how the Afghans and soldiers live on the base. You pick up humility and appreciate everything a lot more. Here in the Czech Republic we have everything and we are always snorting at something. There, an Afghan works in the field for 1-2 dollars a day and they can even shoot him...
Are you planning any more events like this one?
Yes. Thanks to this video I decided that I would like to make similar videos next year. Something like a kind of travelogue "Strength in the World" where we would film interesting places like Kazakhstan, Iceland, Ireland, Brazil, etc. Just to make a travelogue on the level. Preferably on TV, or at least on stream. And that's why we need as many people as possible to see this video, so we can show it to sponsors as a demo.
We know that nowadays "likes" rule the world and are very "important"... But we want to go the way of quality videos and not make crap where we play Twister to get ratings.
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Strongman Jiří Tkadlčík at a military base in Afghanistan
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