The world champion and runner -up in Doha in 100 and 200 back laments the double sixth place in Paris and already points to the podium in Los Angeles 2028
MADRID, 12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The swimmer Hugo González de Oliveira acknowledges that “there is no stage” where he could say that he deserved “the medal” in the Games of Paris 2024, where he was sixth in the final of the 100 and 200 meters back although he felt “that he could fight” For the podium, but he already thinks of Los Angeles 2028 because the Olympic medal “is the only one” that he does not have in his record.
“In the end it is a race, the best 8 have to give their best version. There is no scenario in which I can say that I deserve the medal, but there is the disappointment of knowing that there was the level, that the level had demonstrated one month Before and that I was so close. Awards Admiral to Spanish sport held at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid.
González said that the 2024 season is the best he has done at his 25 years, although he stressed that “everything is improvable where there is a lot of learning for future” campaigns. “There have been many objectives that we did not expect to have been met; and others that we expected and have not been met. Situations such as Doha, unexpected, with many joys and situations such as those in Paris, which we always want more and sometimes, sometimes, We are close, “he said.
These results harvested throughout the last campaign have led him to receive the Admiral award as best male 2024 The swimmer in reference to Judoca Fran Garrigós and the canoeist Marcus Cooper, Bronz in Paris, who were also nomadic to raise recognition.
Those of Paris 2024 were the third Olympic participation for Hugo González, although it had a singularity: “I felt that you could fight for the test.” “All games are different, you can go to 20 games and the 20 are going to be different. In Paris I noticed the support of the entire delegation and colleagues, that made it different from Tokyo and Rio because in those competitions I did not go so much with favorite, There were not so many expectations, “he said.
Despite leaving as a favorite, the Balearic ended up in sixth place in the 100 -meter back test in a “quite atypical” race. “It is rare to compete for a medal on the side street. It is rare to compete in a not deep enough pool. It is rare to compete in the games being in a hotel instead of in the town. Many details made it different. Neither for good nor for Bad, but different, “he confessed.
“But he fought, I think that half of the test or even 75 percent of the test we were in a medal position. With which, the truth is that just as the support was noticed after the games, during the games It was also noted that people wanted and saw that it was possible, “he said.
During the gala, images of the last moments of his competition in Doha were screened, where he achieved gold in the 200 meters back and silver in the 100 back. Something that aroused “many emotions” to the Balearic swimmer, although he recognized the effort after it. “It is not so much the emotion for the result or to see the first place and the medal but to see all the work behind, which is reflected in a single moment,” he said.
“It is not so much if you have won or not. It is whether what you have done has been worth it to reach this result. It is rarely achieve what you want, but there are certain points in the life in which they arrive and that thousands of hours of work become a moment that is a gold, a silver or the result that is, “he admitted.
“The Olympic Medal is the only one I don’t have”
For this 2025 season, Hugo González marks the objective of “fighting again for the same” for what will go to the World Cup, which is played from July 11 to August 3 in Singapore, to try to revalidate the title. “If we fell and not get up, we would not be athletes,” he said.
In the mind of the Balearic there is already Los Angeles 2028 and the search to get the Olympic medal after three Olympic participations. “It’s the only medal I don’t have,” he said. Although it is aware that “a lot of route in short pool competitions is missing” and, therefore, he highlighted the importance of the psychological facet when competing.
“It is what makes the difference. We are all born with two arms, two legs and one head, that is, the physicist at these levels is not what makes the difference, is the head and what you have been able to do every day with the mentality you have.