MADRID, 22 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish athlete Mariano García, who was proclaimed European champion in 800 meters this Sunday, acknowledged that winning the gold medal is “one of those feelings that you don’t know when you’re going to feel again” so he still has to “assimilate it” .
“Winning gold was one of those feelings that you don’t feel and that you don’t know when you’re going to feel again and I did it for the first time in Munich. Hardly 24 hours have passed and I still have to assimilate it and there is still a season to finish, then we are going to continue training and when we finish I will assimilate it”, declared García upon his arrival in Madrid on Monday.
The Murcian was “very happy” with what he had achieved, although he assures that he did not realize that he was going to win until the end. “I felt it when I crossed the finish line because until the last few meters I saw the Briton glued to me, who said ‘he still beats me in the last few meters’ and I didn’t want that, because since he had been in front all the time he wanted to win the race”, he claimed.
On the final, despite the comeback attempt, Garcia had a plan to control Jake Wightman. “I held back a bit at the end, but I knew he was going to show up at one point or another because he’s a guy with 1,500 and he’s very strong, but in the end I was able to beat him and that’s a satisfaction for the rest of the season”, assured.
In addition, he showed on his social networks that he had exchanged his number with the British as a sign of respect. “Before the race started I told him, because I know him and he is the 1,500m world champion and I wanted a souvenir of him and he said ‘Come on, okay, before the race we changed it’ and I changed it with him there while we changed. It was a nice detail and now I’m going to have a nice memory of him and he of me,” he explained.
Mariano García, who began the race making a “characteristic” gesture of his with his hands imitating a motorcycle, confessed that “many times” he does not think about tactics “in the race”. “And this has made me win this European Championship,” he remarked.
Now, the middle-distance runner will travel to Murcia to complete his season after the celebrations. “With what I have done here, a welcome will surely await me and it is not for less because a gold is the most wonderful thing in the world. Right now to continue training tomorrow there in my town and we will finish the season in about 10 or 12 days in a meeting “, he concluded.