Interview with Sarah Atcho

Meet the Swiss three-time Olympic sprinter who is a champion for resilience and empowering girls through sport.

Sarah Atcho, the third of four kids, is a three-time Olympian and is one of the top five fastest woman in Swiss history over 200m. Despite her self-professed allergy to team sports, she won ‘Team of the Year 2019’ for her 4x100m relay successes including being part of the Swiss record-breaking relay team that year. She spoke to us from a training camp in Dubai where her preparations for LA28 have started in earnest.

Tell us about your childhood

I loved my childhood. I was raised in a big family in a very small village near Lausanne by my parents who are immigrants. It was always important to them that we had a normal Swiss life.

We were always on the go. It was mandatory for us to do something after school - an activity, a sport, drawing, or anything that would make us happy, but doing nothing was not an option. I think that education played a key part in building my character and who I am today.

At what point did you find running or did it find you?

I didn't know I had any real sporting talent before the age of about 14. I had played sports like basketball, tennis, horse riding but I hadn’t found the thing that lit my competitive fire.

And then, sprint tests were introduced at school. That’s when I realized I could beat the guys! I found my competitive edge on the track, and that’s what really drives me.

How did you go from beating the boys in gym class to competing on the international stage?

A teacher saw my potential and encouraged me to join an athletics club in 2010. By 2011 I was competing at international meets. It all happened pretty quickly. My brother plays on the Swiss basketball team so we have some sporty genes but there are no other runners in my family so it surprised us all.

What is it that you love about the sport of track and field?

I just love competition. I need it. I need to know where I am compared to other people and with track and field you can compete every weekend if you want to. I also love that it’s an individual sport. I really struggle with team sports because I hate to rely on someone else and I don’t like letting others’ down. With running, it’s just me and the track. If I’m doing badly, it’s my fault and if I’m doing well, that’s all on me too.

Track and field is also so diverse. There are so many different events that no matter your body type and talent, you can find your event. And its culturally diverse too. I played a bit of tennis and was involved in equestrian for a while but I just never felt like I belonged. On the track, I found a home.

“With running, it’s just me and the track. If I’m doing badly, it’s my fault and if I’m doing well, that’s all on me too.”

At what point did you realize that you could make running a career?

In 2012 we went on holiday to the Ivory Coast where my dad is from. While we were there, the Olympics in London were happening and I remember watching those games and seeing some Swiss girls competing in track and field. I quietly said to myself, if they can make it, maybe I can too. I’d only just started, but I figured if I trained hard enough, what was stopping me being like them?

Was the training and coaching infrastructure there to support you?

In 2013 I went to the US thinking that was the place to be if I wanted to make it. But I really didn’t fit the system there. It was too aggressive, and they have so many good athletes, I was just a number. It was literally survival of the fittest and I never survived it, I always got injured.

In Switzerland, there was a smaller pool of top talent and they are really looked after so I realised I needed to come home.

At Rio 2016 you became an Olympian. Tell us what that felt like.

It was the biggest sense of achievement ever. At the same time, I was pretty young (21) and hadn’t been running at the top level for long. I think it happened a bit too soon. It had almost come too easily and I didn't feel like I deserved it. I felt the magnitude of the moment but I didn't know what I was doing. I was not professional enough.

You went on to compete in Tokyo and Paris. Did you grow into those games?

Tokyo was just heartbreaking. COVID19. No spectators. And it didn’t come together for me on the track. Nothing worked.

But going into Paris, I changed my mindset. The goal was not to go to Paris24. It was to be happy. If I made it to Paris as part of that happiness then all the better, but it wasn’t my raison d’être.

In the end, I raced twice on the Olympic track in Paris and it felt amazing. I realized it might never happen again and so I just really enjoyed every moment.

What’s your career highlight so far?

My 2018 season. Everything just came together that year. I ran my fastest times (11.20 PB over 100m and 22.80 PB over 200m) and I felt more prepared, more ready, more professional than at any other point in my career. The whole season was really, really, clean and it just felt great. It taught me that it is not about the medals or how many people congratulate you. It’s really about how it feels.

“On the track, I found a home.”

In 2020 you suffered a potentially career-ending injury. What did it take to pull yourself back from that?

When my knee injury happened, I obviously knew it was a possibility my career could end there and then. But I told myself that was not an option. It was always a problem that we were going to solve one way or another. I didn’t feel like I had done enough yet and my pride wouldn’t let me quit. It took a long time to fight my way back to fitness, and mental resilience played a big part in that journey to recovery. I had a mental coach and I also think the way I was raised played a part. My parents raised us to be resilient. They taught us that if something was worth doing, we had to do it well. Quitting wasn’t in our DNA.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from your successes and so-called failures on the track?

To enjoy every single mini victory that I have. If I lift well today in the gym, I will celebrate it. If I do one good race this week, I will congratulate myself even if the rest of the season falls short. When I started out, running fast was everything and if that didn’t happen, it felt terrible. Now I know that normal isn't running fast. Normal is just living, it’s having your health and if you run fast, that's a plus. And so now I cherish all the small things that go right.

When you’re not on the track, where will we find you?

Surrounded by kids! I believe that if you reinforce kids, you build a better future. So I do a lot of work with schools and young people, particularly young women and girls to build confidence, resilience and strength. It is hard to be a girl in this society, to be sure of your place and believe in your potential and I want to make this easier.

Speaking of female empowerment, you recently spoke at TEDxLausanneWomen about how we can all cultivate Olympic-level resilience. What was more nerve-wracking, stepping onto that TEDx stage or an Olympic start line?

Definitely TEDx! There is no question about it. I knew from the moment I started rehearsing that it’s not the same. Track is the thing I know the best in the world. I train for it every day. It’s part of my make-up and routine. Of course, I was stressed before the Olympics but it was a normal nervousness. TEDxLausanneWomen was a whole other level but an incredibly supportive environment too. I loved the experience.

What does the future hold for Sarah Atcho?

Hopefully another Olympics in 2028. That's the goal. I will give my best, train as much as I can, and if I make it, that would be amazing.

And I am going to start delivering empowering camps for young women and girls here in Lausanne so they can benefit from all the lessons I have learned over my track career. It is time to give back.

InterviewMatt Herivel6 January 2025Olympics, World Athletics