From 29 to 9 September, the Universitat de València’s student Mónica Merenciano and the doctor at the Gabinet de Suport a l’Esportista, Miguel Ángel Buil, will attend the Paralympic Games in London. It is not the first time the athlete faces this kind of challenge. Indeed, Merenciano won the bronze medal in the last two Paralympics: Atienes (2004) and Beijing (2008).
Moreover, she has got some medals at the European and world championships through her career. ‘This year, qualifying for the games has been harder than before’, the athlete, who is part of the Programa d’Esport Adaptat of the Universitat de València’s Chair Divina Pastora, explains. After passing 2010 as a blank year, she was pushed to get good results in all 2011 competitions and she qualified after being the first in the European championship and third in the world championship.
Her trainers have been vital in getting these results. They are Vicente Rochela and Sara Rochela. They will go to London with Merenciano. She also says that the support of Programa d’Esport Adaptat through the Chair Divina Pastora has been very important, since it has allowed her to combine sport and studies. Thanks to this programme, athletes have a health service and an academic supervisor to help them.
At this Paralympics, the athlete hopes to win and she says that she would like to improve her outcome. Merenciano is about to finish her studies of Ciències de l’Activitat Física i l’Esport at Universitat de València, but she will continue to study the degree of Physiotherapy. She will arrive to London on August 24, but in the meantime she has to go to Alicante and Mallorca.
The Valencian Paralympic team is made up of fourteen athletes. It was introduced at a ceremony organized by Federació d’Esport Adaptat of Comunitat Valenciana (FESA) last week.
Spanish Paralympic Committee for this year’s games. For Buil, taking part in this competition is ‘an honour, because one of the challenges in a sports medicine professional’s career is to take part in the Olympics.’ During their stay in London, the doctors will take care of the 42 Spanish athletes and the rest of the Spanish delegation if they need it.
As Buil explains, the Clínica España will be established inside the Olympic Village. This centre will receive the athletes as if it was a care centre, and the athletes needing a specialized care will be sent to the health centre of LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games), which will be treating the cases in depth. The athletes needing to stay at hospitals will be sent to three hospitals in the city of London.
Last update: 26 de july de 2012 11:47.
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