MADRID, 5 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish gymnast and silver medalist on floor at Tokyo 2020, Ray Zapata, points out that it was in the preparation for the last Games that he understood that he had to work on the mental aspect to be prepared “in all areas”, because an Olympic medal “does not it’s for everyone”, while confessing that he will train so that gold in Paris 2024 “comes true”.
“I realized that psychology is important in preparing for the Tokyo Games. To get an Olympic medal I had to be prepared in all areas. Have a good head, rest well, eat well, in all areas, even that my dog is perfect. An Olympic medal is not for everyone, getting there and not getting it, well, well. Thanks to all that order I was able to get the result,” Zapata told Europa Press before the premiere of ‘Somos Únicxs: la faces of bullying’ of Fundación ColaCao.
Zapata is one of the protagonists of the documentary, in which he narrates how his different skin color prevented him from “fitting in” at his school. “Having a different skin color costs more, plus I didn’t like football. I was trying to start a sport, in this case gymnastics, but I thought it was only for girls. But I went to an exhibition and there were boys doing somersaults and I I was ‘freaked out’. I signed up, but at school I wasn’t accepted, because I was wearing a jersey, not the football tracksuit,” he says.
“But luckily, and little by little, I created my circle with gymnastics. We also practiced ballet and I didn’t feel better or worse, it doesn’t mean that because you wear a leotard you are homosexual. Today everything is very normalized, All those people who laughed at me are the ones who applaud me today. You can get out of all this by talking to the right people, “said the gymnast.
Thus, he considers that the psychological aspect is “very important” to create that necessary strength in this type of situation. “You have to eliminate the circle that is crushing you from your life and focus on the people who are supporting and promoting you. Of course, psychologists are needed, it is a very positive reinforcement,” he said.
Consolidated as a benchmark for Spanish sport after the Tokyo Games, Ray Zapata ironically considers himself “half-disciplined”. “Because I do what I want,” he jokes. “I am constant, non-conformist and perfectionist”, described the Lanzarote native of Dominican origin.
“I’M GOING TO WORK SO THAT GOLD IN PARIS 2024 IS A REALITY”
And it is that Zapata recognizes that as a child he had technical difficulties that I had to make up for by adapting and strengthening his virtues. “Obviously it’s not enough just to have talent, you have to have a very good base, and if you don’t have it, then you train it. I don’t know how to do a handstand technically, but I’ve made up for it by putting my arms up like a bull. You can’t take away the opportunity to a person who can get here for not having a base. Many professors say that the child is worthless and in the end the child gets an Olympic medal,” he claimed.
Finally, the Olympic runner-up remembers with pride the achievement of silver in Tokyo. “In the month of the Games I lived the three best moments of my life. My daughter was born, I dedicated the new element to her and then the Olympic medal, I was happier than a partridge. But I am a non-conformist and I want to improve that, I want my daughter to see me from the stands in some Games, and I don’t want to do one more element, I want to do three new elements”, he predicts.
“Hopefully I can win a gold medal in Paris in 2024, I will prepare myself in all areas to achieve it because I see it as a very real dream and I will work to make it come true,” he said.