“Marching under the Eiffel Tower is an added motivation,” says the Madrid native, confident of improving sixth place in Tokyo 2020.
“We marchers have been disrespected, we must work to maintain the march in the Games”
PARIS, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish walker Diego García Carrera, bronze and silver in 20 kilometers in the last two Europeans, was “ambitious” to improve the sixth place in Tokyo 2020 and fight for the medal in the next Paris Games, and regretted that they had been “disrespected” in recent years by changes and the possible disappearance of the discipline in the Olympic program.
“When I came sixth in the last Games I felt like a failure because I was going for the medal, but then, with time, you appreciate how difficult it is to be in those positions. I am ambitious and you can only aspire for more. There are still months left and it is possible to dream of a medal, so let's go for it,” he expressed in an interview with Europa Press in Paris, where he traveled with the rest of the Olympic and Paralympic ambassadors of Iberia's 'Talent on Board' program.
Next to the Eiffel Tower and its 300 meters of iron that rise over the Champ de Mars, Diego García already feels that the Games “are here.” “If we want to be at the top, which we want, we have to act as if we have a week left to compete. I like that a lot, otherwise it bores me. I get goosebumps and I have the feeling that I have to give everything.” , project.
Walking is a specialty that has given “a lot of joy” to the Spanish medal table, especially in European, World and Olympic Games – five of the 16 medals achieved by national athletes have been in this specialty – so, according to García, there are ” reasons to think that he can do very well” in the French capital.
“It is true that it is not good to be overconfident, we have already come from situations where we started as favorites and then things did not go well for us, like in the Doha World Cup, but I think we have a lot of possibilities.
“We are close to home, we have the same time zone and more or less similar weather, and competing under the Eiffel Tower is an added motivation and a moment to give it our all,” he commented.
The Madrid native confessed that 2023 was not his “best year”, which has prompted him to “change many things”, aware that the same strategy “is not the correct one”. “In that line I can only trust that it will turn out well and, if luck is with us, I think we can be in that leading group that we were in Tokyo, where some won medals and others were close. Hopefully this time we will be the ones who we got a medal,” he wished.
APPLY THE TECHNOLOGY “ASAP”
Walking has been Olympic since the London Games in 1908, and is at risk of disappearing from the program. “Lately we have suffered drastic changes such as the new mixed relay test, which has arrived a year or so in advance. This is not treating walkers with respect,” he denounced.
He does not care if the culprit is the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or World Athletics, although the statements by the president of the international athletics federation, Sebastian Coe, this past December assuring that he will be in Los Angeles in 2028 have calmed things down.
“I hope this is the case, we will continue working to ensure it. This debate is greatly influenced by the fact that those in charge are Anglo-Saxons, where the march is not usually very present. There have been factors that could have left it out and now what we have to do is to work to eliminate possible criticism as it continues to be a subjective specialty because the judges can be decisive in a result,” he explained.
In this sense, he advocated the use of current technology, capable of establishing who is doing well and who is doing poorly. “It would be necessary to apply it as soon as possible and continue working on a calendar that includes very attractive events in venues such as the Eiffel Tower as in the Games, the Gran Vía in Madrid or in Rome in a few months in the European Championship,” he explained.
García, sports director of the GP Madrid Marcha, whose third edition will be held after Paris 2024, argued that it is only necessary to cut 500 meters of a street to promote sports and tourism in a city like the capital of Spain.
“We compete at more than 15 kilometers per hour, less than 4 minutes per kilometer, and that is a speed that is impressive when you see it live because you do not expect people to walk so fast. The spectator does not see a formula one or a bike passes very quickly, a bike belonging to a professional passes very quickly,” he compared.
ATHLETICS: BETWEEN ONE AND THREE MEDALS
In a “realistic” range, the two-time continental medalist considers that Spain's athletes will add “between one and three medals” in Paris. “Athletics is going better than other times. I would have a minimum of one medal and a maximum of three. In walking, Olympic medals are 'very expensive' because everyone wants them. Ensuring a result is complicated, but we are athletes with quite a chance of medaling.” “, he pointed.
In the new mixed relay, Spain “is going strong” and at an individual level “a podium can be achieved.” “There could be three medals just in progress or the catastrophe of not getting any, or like in Tokyo, three quarters. Let's say that we got two medals,” she said.
Likewise, García expressed his confidence that the Spanish delegation will break the 'glass ceiling' of the 22 medals from Barcelona'92. “I think that the glass ceiling of Barcelona's 22 medals can be broken because we have results that support it in recent years. Because we have no time change, the climate is similar, and we know that a lot of people are going to come to encourage us. That's a boost,” he stressed.
In fact, for García's generation, those in Paris are going to be “the closest thing to having the Olympic Games in Spain.” “Since we will not be able to enjoy those Games in Madrid, these are practically going to be ours and I think we did achieve it, that we surpassed the Barcelona medals,” he stated on the tenth floor of a central hotel, located at skirts of the iconic Parisian tower.