A traditional meeting with an interesting personality

16 November 2022

We were visited by Roman Antonov, a personal bodyguard to many well-known figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Dolph Lundgren, Madonna, as well as Karel Gott, Lucie Bílá, and others. His fascinating talk, tied to his book Confessions of a Bodyguard, in which he recounts a life spent alongside Hollywood stars, was both engaging and a real success — he managed to communicate interactively with the students and show them, in practice, his period relics and personal-protection equipment. In his own personal video, he documented encounters with interesting and inspiring people. He later drew on a wealth of anecdotes for his book Confessions of a Bodyguard, a truly one-of-a-kind book personally endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself through his museum in his native Thal. He passed this book, unique in the world, around among the students present.

The talk was also valuable because it introduced the audience to some of the professional methods used to protect VIPs, highlighting how important mental qualities, exceptional focus, physical resilience, and tactical preparation are in this line of work. In closing, he stressed how some of these qualities and skills are also useful in unexpected, critical life situations and can be applied in everyday civilian life.