“The body knows that it has been working for many years to get here and we are going with everything”
MADRID, 6 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The skier Pol Makuri, one of the two Spanish representatives at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games, recognizes that it is “spectacular” to be the flag of people with disabilities and “transmit to the whole world that everything is possible”, while facing His Paralympic debut was marked as a goal to finish inside the top 15 in the 20 km classic.
“It is spectacular to represent people with disabilities. It is impressive to love sport and convey to the whole world that everything is possible, that with enthusiasm and work you can achieve everything you set out to do,” Makuri said in an interview with Europa Press.
The athlete, who is competing for the first time in the Paralympic Games, said he was “strong” to face the big event in Beijing. “I feel encouraged, wanting to get the best out of myself. The body knows that it has been working for many years to get here and we are going with everything, we will go with all the cards to give our best,” he added.
“The Games are the highest competition, it is the dream of any athlete, whether they are in the elite or no longer. The experience is sure to be brutal, it is the highest step at a competitive level,” he admitted about the sporting event, in the one that will run in the sprint and classic cross-country skiing events in the LW9 class and in which it will debut this Monday.
Makuri will have his first test on March 7, with the 20 km classic, where he hopes to finish in the top 15. “It is the discipline that I am best at. We will do 90% the same as the Olympic Games circuit, we are in the biathlon Olympic venue, we share it with them,” she explains.
“It has some technical ups and downs, but we can get performance, we will analyze it very well to get a few more seconds and scrape some of the parts that cost us the most,” he said about the circuit.
In addition to the sporting objective, Makuri travels to Beijing with another intention. “I want to enjoy the Games to the fullest and try to convey the experiences of the Games to the entire disability group. Being a pioneer in the Federation of Cerebral Palsy, being the first in winter sports to go to the Games, I will try to open the doors and that everything the world see that everything is possible and that we all have the right to fight for our dreams”, he wished.
And in this first experience, the skier will be accompanied by Victor González, the other Spanish representative who will compete in his second Games. “Going with ‘Vic’ gives me enormous peace of mind. We will find ourselves with a strange structure due to the Covid issue, but he will be able to transmit his experience to me,” he said.
“I passed the Covid, but I spent it at home. I have been able to train, although at the level of nerves, stress, knowing that there is PCR, antigens… It is an extra stress that you carry in your backpack, but you try to carry it in the best possible way , so that the body is in its place and can give its best”, said Makuri, who hopes to “give a fight” in Beijing to continue contributing to the growth of Paralympic sport.