When she won a local race in Slovakia two years ago, a photograph of her on the medalists' tribunal went viral. Compared to the girls who came in second and third place in their running shoes, 13-year-old Annamárie Horváthová was standing in first place after running in ballerina flats.
"It's talent, diligence and perseverance," trainer Norbert Pecze says when asked how to best describe the young athlete. She is growing up in the miserable conditions of a Romani settlement.
After that victory she received running shoes from a sponsor and the Athletics Club in Moldava nad Bodvou noticed her talent and took her in. She was also visited by the then-President of Slovakia, Andrej Kiska, who expressed recognition of her achievement and wished her a great deal of success in school, sports and life.
"In the beginning we had a bit of a problem with communication - Annamária doesn't speak Slovak, but she does speak Romanes and Hungarian," recalls Pezce, who is also chair of the Athletics Club. "We speak Hungarian to one another and we talk a lot. She lives in a shack, her horizons there are limited, so we are doing our best to also transfer some knowledge to her, which for us is just as valuable as winning a medal. She is bringing us great joy in all respects. We are also helping her materially, we wash her clothes, when we go to meets we pack her bag, and we're paying for her lunches at school so she gets a balanced diet every day, we go shopping together," the trainer explains.
