MADRID 29 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Fernando Michelena is clear that the Paralympic shot has “changed his life” and has given him “a daily reason” to move forward, and that without “the effort and sacrifice” of his family he could not have been last summer in the Paralympic Games of Paris.
“This sport has changed my life. It has given me a daily reason to raise my , above all, enjoy a constant challenge that has taught me to balance body and mind, “says Michelena in an interview in the Bulletin of Paralympic Athletes of the Royal Spanish Federation of Olympic Tire.
For the Guipuzcoan, “the shot is a fight against yourself.” “It is a constant challenge in which you must control your body and mind. Learn to do it in sport also teaches you to do it in daily life,” he warns.
The 52 -year -old Basque shooter recalls that disability puts “barriers”, but at the same time drives them “to find new ways to face them.” In his case, thanks to the game that was to shoot “when he was young” in the park of attactions of Monte Iguedo, in San Sebastián, and that “years later he would become a passion.”
Last summer, Michelena achieved “the shared dream” to play his first Paralympic Games in Paris. “My family has always been by my side, and without his effort and sacrifice he would never have achieved it,” acknowledges the Basque, who was impressed by “the influx of public.” “We are accustomed to competing virtually silent, but in the games everything was full. Listening to that support was something unique,” he admits.
And someone fundamental in his presence in the French capital was Belén, his wife, who died after the appointment after battling with a scleroderma. “I came to think about not going to the games, but Bethlehem asked me not to give up. That dream we had fought together for years, now, every triumph is for and for her,” he confesses.
Finally, Michelena, which also highlights the paper José Montero, his assistant and charger during the last seven years, has hope that integration into the Olympic federations that are reflected in the new Sports Law is beneficial. “It is assumed that, on equal terms, we are all athletes and we practice the same sport, although in a different way. That is what I hope will happen,” he says.