Calm and flow of Jordan Diaz, the new diva of world athletics | Kinds of sports

You go to Paris through Rome, people in European athletics say, but the Italian capital was not a flying target, but rather a full-fledged attraction that sometimes makes you forget about the upcoming Olympic greatness. Rome was important in its own right.

The European Championships was an opera with a sluggish start due to embarrassment and program and a frenzied finale, the apotheotic atmosphere of an Olympic party and drama, as if the most predictable Verdi was revived live more than a century after the funeral. It would stand behind the libretto and music, and only sentimental and an emotional crescendo to anxiety and tears would make sense. Neither the choir, nor the solo performers, nor the diso, who broke 15 championship records, were upset.

With their Olympic champions at the forefront (100m King Jacobs, jumper Tamberi, his 4×100 relay, a symbol of the young strength of a country in crisis), the Italians dominated magnificently (24 medals, of which 11 gold), guaranteeing a great atmosphere in the stands during time of eight hours of daily practice, one of the greatness that only athletics can create, and the greatest European athletes, as well as the best in the world, the children of Generation Z, who have already become classics, they shone: Jakob Ingebrigtsen became the first athlete to win six gold medals: three in the 5000m and three in the 1500m in three consecutive championships, starting with Berlin 2018, when he debuted at 17; Mondo Duplantis, having won his third gold in a row at the age of 24 with a championship record (6.10 m), tried to break the world record for the sixth time, he ordered the bar to be set at 6.25 m, chose the yellowest one to pole hard and allow himself to be inspired I will fly Modugno, which sounded along with the crescent moon falling almost at midnight on Wednesday, creating an almost fabulous and vibrant atmosphere. “And I flew, I flew happily above the sun, and even higher, while the world slowly disappeared into the distance,” Domenico sang, and the Swede tried to imitate him, and on the first try he surpassed the height well, but fell when he touched during the descent chest with a fallen barbell. The other two attempts were worse. I was exhausted. Slightly older, 26 years old, Olympic long-distance champion, Greek Tentoglou, parabolated on stage and also broke the championship record with his best mark of 8.65m, which was also surpassed by 400m hurdles phenom, Olympic champion Norwegian. Karsten Warholm (46.98 seconds) and the Dutch Femke Bol (52.49 seconds), ranked second in the world and involved in one of the greatest fights awaiting Olympic gold in Paris against Sydney McLaughlin. Other big names with hiccups include heptathlete Naffisatu Thiam, vaulters Malaika Mihambo and Jaroslava Mauchih.

And although he is not yet a world or Olympic champion, since he has not yet had the opportunity, the 18.18 meters and Jordan Diaz are among the group of divas breaking out of the boundaries of Spanish athletics, a separate chapter of the assessment that, after the championship, early in the morning in Thursday, national coach José Peiro did at the stadium.

“Eight medals, two of them gold, 29 finalists, 40% of the team… I won’t say that it was a bad championship, but I won’t say that I’m happy, because it’s not. . I expected, within the normal forecast, I expected a little more, and within the optimistic forecast, well, much more,” analyzes Peiro. “We had absolutely stellar performances, and I don’t just mean medals, but there were athletes who exceeded all expectations, such as sprinter Guillem Crespi (sixth in the 100m) or Quique Llopis, who is definitely among the elite in the 110m with hurdles not only because of the place, silver, but also because of the mark he received (13.16 s). We expected more than fifth place in the final points table behind Italy, France, Great Britain and Germany. We must strive for more.”

He talks about Paris, and everyone looks at Jordan Diaz, a world star who, at 23, in his first season of maturity, reaches the highest category in athletics, a resident of the kingdom of those who turn technical gesture into art. , make it theirs, as if they were born with it, turn it into beauty and excite it. If 99% of athletes are hard workers who, sweaty and persistent, try to imitate nature, then 1%, or even less, is nature itself: without sweating, they make the impossible natural. There has never been such an alien in Spanish athletics. He is the Alcaraz of athletics, another spokesman for Generation Z sports, like Pogacar, because, being from the category of sports Martians, he also laughs and never breaks down, and is not like the champions of other times, mad dogs. always angry elements, as if high results depended on rage.

“Yes, the truth is that all competitions are like everyday life. I’m always happy, I joke with the team. Yes, in competitions you need to be very focused, but never leave your character as you are. And I think being a happy person is the best thing you can be, so…” he says on Wednesday afternoon, after receiving the championship medal, with another, Pishardo, pouting his lips at his side, feigning anger. He doesn’t do this. I don’t even look at him. “I’m quite happy and completely calm”

He is a Spaniard from Guadalajara, part of Ivan Pedroso’s team, like gold medalist and triple jumper Ana Peleteiro, but like his coach, he has a knack for getting results. cuban style, as the verse of the song dictates Orishaa myth that all Cubans know: “With my flow which calms the nervous without fatigue. Thanks to my connection, I have good control over my tongue. As he did just minutes before his fight with Pichardo, the mother of all trebles, 18.18 to 18.04, and oblivious to the commotion around him, he sits on the bench and jokes with his opponent, the Portuguese Thiago Pereira. “Of course, what I’m saying is, you can’t be so tense either. I am focused on the competition, but at the end of the day, he is my teammate and I will support him so that he can win a medal too,” he explains, as Pereira also trains with Pedroso and finishes fourth. “Beyond that, let’s see, it’s a competition. You don’t have to be there to die either.”

Peleteiro is also cheerful and happy outside the showroom, but during competitions she turns into a furious tigress. “Ana loves to punch. I’m more of a passer. I’m very calm. I am a brush. I’m the one to hand over. Everything is calm,” and with a soft hand he caresses the leg to reinforce his words with tenderness. But this calmness does not exclude the competitive instinct, the desire to always win. The ability to give the maximum. “The intensity of the competition also helped me jump more and reach my limits. At the limit at that moment, not at my limit. It was an incredible competition and I’m happy with what I did. This competition will go down in history in every way. We’ve built incredible brands.”

But at this moment, when his talent is praised, he responds by talking about training and work; When they tell him that he is already on a different level, he replies that he is the same as everyone else. “I don’t trust myself any more than anyone else. We are all on the same level and whoever is in better shape will always win,” he says. And when he is asked when he will jump 18.30 meters and break the 29-year-old world record, he talks about life. – I don’t know, I’m not looking for it either. I’m not looking for anything. Everything works out, everything works out, and if it works out, it works out. If not, it will be another day,” he says. “I’m happy now. I’m telling you, I’m happier about the medal than about 18-18. That’s what I say: medals are what you get. Records, another one will come and break them. It is clear. I swear I don’t care about 18-18. A medal is more valuable to me than 18-18. “Brands are procedures.”

And now on land, descended from the Moon on which he competes, without gravity, and his brush is a light gauze, fog, he stands firmly on both legs and refuses to neglect his convictions, carried away by the enthusiasm and reading of his enthusiastic fans. “After this competition I will go to Paris with more confidence,” he says. “But I’m not talking about gold. I never trust myself in any competition, especially at the Olympics. So, gold, I don’t know, and I say what kind of medal it could be, and it’s not very clear to me either, because in the end I may have jumped 18-18 right now, but that doesn’t mean I should do it. again.”

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes at Facebook And Xor register here to receive our weekly newsletter.

_