London: Swiss Viktor Rothlin, survivor of a life-threatening pulmonary embolism two years ago, has promised to celebrate with a traditional alpine yodel if he breaks the European record in tomorrow's London marathon.
The 36-year-old European champion was brought up by parents who disapproved of sport and ensured he was tutored in yodelling and playing the accordion.
"My parents are a bit old-fashioned," he said. "For them sport is for people who have not worked hard in the daytime."
Rothlin was asked if he would demonstrate his skills at producing the extended note fluctuating from a deep chest sound to a falsetto, once used as a means of communication in the central European Alps.
"Such is the versatility of the London marathon that we have got an accordion," said Andy Edwards, convenor of the daily London marathon news conferences.
"Oh, oh," responded Rothlin "I will be in trouble but if I break the European record I'm happy to do anything."
Yodelling to order tomorrow morning if he breaks Portuguese Antonio Pinto's 11-year-old European mark of two hours six minutes 36 seconds, will give Rothlin no sleepless nights.
Normal life
These days Rothlin is happy just to lead a normal life, let alone take part in the world's most prestigious big city marathon, following the events of 2009.
Ten days after landing in Kenya after a five-hour flight from the UAE, he experienced excruciating pain after returning from a long training run.
"It was like knives in my chest, unbelievably painful, I could not breathe, if I breathed deeply it was like a knife really hurting me," he told Reuters in an interview.
"The day after I started to spit blood, it shocked me because when you spit out blood you feel you are dying."
