‘Injury could delay athletics’ | Relief
December 1st was a difficult day at the Stade de France. Not for Ana Peleteiro, not for any of the participants who had to risk chestnuts and medals that day. Especially if, as happened with the Galician woman, the dark and humid sky that day stole her basic in big competitions and opportunities to dream. In Relevo, living in competition with my then coach Ivan Pedroso, we already told how inside the Galician team they realized that they needed to do something completely different than usual and wait for luck to fall on their side. This did not happen and the European champion had to settle for sixth place just a few weeks ago.
“I was afraid of getting hurt“, the athlete herself said in Vicky Martin Berrocal’s podcast on the podium. It started raining heavily When Peleteira was placed in the lineout – she was chosen to open the first three rounds – for her third jump. Earlier, in the first, he approached 14.55 meters, “the best competition debut of my life”and secondly, poor support in step He left her with a weak score of 13.73, which was the last opportunity to demonstrate her quality in a good environment. After this attempt, which preceded an improvement, things became more difficult for the Spaniard, who had dropped to places outside the podium, against unyielding opponents.
And yet Peleteiro was one of two finalists who managed to improve their jump by 14.59 since the beginning of the rainstorm along with Cuban Povea. “I am an athlete who jumps more at the end of the competition. If you look at my resume at all championships, my best jumps are always on the fourth or fifth attempt.. “It’s like I’m getting warmer, I’m a diesel…,” correctly analyzes the Spanish triple jumper, already settled in Ribeira in her new stage after leaving Pedroso, for whom the vagary of the rain was an insurmountable wall. “The girls took advantage of this and jumped (more) in the first two jumps.Despite the fact that she started with the third fastest time among the participants, she herself dreamed of gold and an impossible 15 meters due to weather conditions.
Despite achieving a jump of eight centimeters more and the organization rushed to try to dry the table It was not easy to play the rest of the competition, and a thought burst into Ana’s head that made everything even more difficult: “Like me now, I tear my Achilles tendon or hamstring because I slip on my board.which are now slipping a lot and this has happened to many people…”
And so the mind moved from one thought to another, from possible trauma to a more important life change than what it became after that ending: “I see myself at 28 years old, with a daughter and trauma taking me. in two years, and Maybe I’ll give up sports for a while, have another child again, and my priorities will change.“. A step aside that would change his life.
Between motherhood and a successful life off the slopes, making decisions for the next seasons has been shaping Peleteiro’s course for some time, so much so that in the aforementioned conversation she notes that “never put sport first“of his life. This is the main reason for his life change, his move to the city where he was born and being in an environment that “healed” his wounds, many of which are caused by the hate he receives from social networks, after Paris. .
Fear of injury and, above all, of what could happen next, forced click the conservative in his head who did not allow him to fly until the medal at 14.67 meters had been “paid” to the American Moore, a mark available to the Galician on any other day. Now, faced with a situation of sporting risk and the abyss of future change, he faced pressure. “I I was in such an emotionally sensitive moment that anything that happened could take me away from my goal. be at the highest level,” he says.
Those who were in that stand, and those who know how Peleteiro competes, can only dream of what could have happened if the rain had not appeared on a whim on D-day and H-time with the already known variations. , you will have the opportunity to compete for your second Olympic medal in Los Angeles 2028.