Taekwondo Champion Anastasija Zolotic Shares Swimsuit Photo of “Some Sun and a Boat”

Taekwondo champion Anastasija Zolotic enjoyed the sunshine this summer in one of her all-time favorite places—Clearwater, Florida. Zolotic shared pictures of herself posing on a boat in a blue swimsuit, looking happy and healthy against a background of ocean waters and blue skies. “Some sun and a boat never hurt anyone ;),” she captioned the post. “The champ!” a fan commented. Zolotic is an Olympic gold medalist and trains incredibly hard—here are 5 ways she stays ahead of the competition.

1. Four Hours of Training a Day

Zolotic trains for hours each day with her team. “I spend four hours training each day and I sleep for eight hours,” she says. “I wake up at 7:30 AM and get ready for a taekwondo training session from 9 AM to 11 AM and then we usually have a break before another taekwondo session from 2 PM to 4 PM. Some days we have weight training in the morning or afternoon session. My favorite workout is our coach’s taekwondo judo mat exercises.”

2. Protein and Vegetables

Zolotic enjoys a healthy, protein-filled diet. She also incorporates a variety of vegetables in her dishes. “I eat a lot of protein like chicken and steak,” she says. “I also eat a lot of vegetables, so my meals have a protein and a vegetable as well as carbs sometimes.”

3. Fighting Fit

Zolotic loves the physical aspects of taekwondo. “I think that without taekwondo, I wouldn’t know who I am,” she says. “I've always had this drive for sports, but without taekwondo, it feels like a part of me is missing. If I was doing something like volleyball, I would still have a drive to fight, and I remember watching that girl kick that bag in the private training room and I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ It's definitely influenced the person I am as well and how I behave and think. It has also opened my eyes a lot more to being aware of who is around me and like what people can become.”

4. She’s a Role Model

Zolotic loves being a role model for young athletes. “When I go to events, like sometimes I go to my room and cry because little girls, are like, ‘oh my God, we look up to you… thank you!’ Or their moms will be like, ‘you just don't understand, like what you've done, or like how much you've helped my daughter or even my son!’ I'll smile and take photos, but I don't think they understand how much their words impact me. I'll go back home, and I'll cry and my mom will be like ‘what's wrong?’ and I’m like, ‘nothing's wrong. I'm just so happy. I didn't win this Olympic medal for myself, I won it for everybody.”

5. Learning From Teammates

Zolotic and her teammates all pick up tricks and skills from each other. “Taekwondo is an individual sport, but having a team that you see every day and train with helps me see myself grow, performance-wise and what I add to my game,” she says. “Since we all train every day, we pick stuff up from each other. We're all kind of on this path together, we're all training full time, so I think it's kind of influenced me as an athlete looking up to them and seeing what they are doing to help myself. And I think that's why USA Taekwondo will grow and why you'll hear about Taekwondo more after these next few Olympic Games, because we're coming in hot.”