The athletes from the Divina Pastora Chair come back from Rio with four Paralympic diplomas

None of them got a medal, but Eckhard, Merenciano and Cabrera were close to get one. They are some of the 44 athletes of the Spanish delegation that got a Paralympic diploma, which recognise that they are one of the eight best athletes of their speciality in the world.

Rosa Laparra, member of the Mixed Comitee of the Divina Pastora Chair of Adapted Sports of the Universitat de València was talking last Tuesday with the four athletes about their experience in the Paralympic Games.

Héctor Cabrera, javelin thrower, participated for the first time in the Paralympic Games. He comes back home with two Paralympic diplomas (fifth in javelin and eighth in discus throw): “They are my first Games and I don’t come back empty-handed. A diploma is a very important recognition. At the end, all the athletes know that not to have a medal is the same as not to have nothing, but for us a diploma is not like not having anything. It is a Paralympic diploma that shows that I am between the eight best Paralympic in the last four years and that’s not a nonsense.

Cabrera was aware of the difficulty of getting a medal, and, after the competition, he points out that maybe he was wrong because of his high moral: “I remember the beginning of the event as the best beginning I could have, throwing even beyond the 63 meters. Later, the amount of people in the stands added to the fact of being my first Games and seeing me so prepared that I even thought I could throw 65-66 meters, made me be tense. I tried to throw more than what I should have done. The conclusion I draw is that I didn’t enjoy the event, and when you don’t enjoy, you go wrong, and that’s what it happened to me. I should face the events in a more calmed way.

The judoka Mónica Mereciano lived in Rio her fourth Paralympic Games. In this occasion, she couldn’t get the Bronze as in her three last Games, but she’s satisfied with the fifth place. “I was close from the medal. After my injury, I recovered and I finally arrived to Rio. The classification for the Paralympic Games is so difficult, so getting the diploma is very satisfying. Obviously it’s a bit sad because I could have got another medal, but I’m happy anyway with what I got.”

In this sense, she adds that about her participation in Rio she highlights: “the good sensations and my attitude in the events, and also all the people who supported me”.

For her colleague of the Divina Pastora Chair of Adapted Sports in the Universitat de València, the cyclist Maurice Eckhard were also his first Paralympic Games. Eckhard lose the Bronze for just five seconds in the time trial, a event that, according to him, it was one of the best time trial he has ever done.

“On balance it is a very positive one. Being just five seconds away from the Bronze shows me that I can go on fighting”, emphasises the Paralympic cyclist, who adds “this diploma is a success, because this season has been very complicated to me. After some falls in the World Championship, I could improve during summer months, train on purpose and being just five seconds away from the third place. Viewed from a distance, it is a reward for a big effort.”

On the part of the sailor Héctor Álvarez, he talks about his Paralympic experience as “incredible”. He got to compete in his first Paralympic Games only two years after beginning in this sport. The problems with the boat made that they didn’t get the expected result. “The third day, in the first regatta, we were between the three best ones, but that day, our best day until that moment in competition, a shackle of our boat broke. This discouraged us and take our toll. I think it was a inflexion point. Finally, after the eleven regattas, we ended in the 14th place”.

Despite of not getting their objective for the Games, he explains that he had very good sensations: “The result is a thorn in the flesh, but we are happy that we navigated with people who is better, in addition, we had good sensations despite of the very few time we have been together”.

About their experience in Rio 2016, they all point out the opening ceremony and the need that all countries compete with the same conditions. “Some countries, due to economic reasons, have, for example, worse equipped wheelchairs and also worse materials than the rest, and that undermines their athletes. If the Paralympic Games are the same for everyone, why happen that kind of things?” says Héctor Cabrera.

Now it’s time to think about the new Olympic series and in their participation in Tokyo 2020. They all agree in the need of promoting the Paralympic sport in Spain, same as in other European countries.

“Every time there’s more and more level in the Paralympic Games. Athletes of other countries have more economic help and social media, things that in our country don’t exist.” says Cabrera. Héctor Álvarez adds “Paralympic sport should be promoted in schools. They should invert from the base so that people could be formed from the beginning. The key is to get that people with disabilities have more opportunities to practise Paralympic sport.”

The Divina Pastora Chair of Adapted Sports in the Universitat de València aims to promote the study, research, the healthy habits, and the debate on the adapted sport, as well as the transfer of knowledge to firms and to civil society. It also promotes the regulated studies (master’s degrees or others), the organisation of seminars, courses, conferences and the call for grants, awards and competitions, all of them related to the adapted sports.

Last update: 28 de september de 2016 11:28.