After his accident: “Now I am more positive, not only in sport”
MADRID, 13 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish gymnast Rayderley Zapata, Olympic floor runner-up in Tokyo 2020 and candidate for the podium in Paris 2024, gladly accepts “having been a reference” for new generations of athletes to “sign up” for the artistic field and also that, thanks to He said, “children should start practicing it” instead of choosing other more common sports.
During an interview with Europa Press, he recalled the impact of that money in Tokyo. “I especially noticed it after the Games came back. Not anymore because I’m not in the media spotlight as much, but I have noticed that more children are signing up for gymnastics,” commented Ray Zapata, member of the ‘Talent on Board’ team. ‘ which is sponsored by the airline Iberia.
“I am glad to have been a reference to encourage them to sign up for gymnastics. It is not a well-known sport, nor very well-known in the media, nor very famous for children to know about it,” he added. “Yes, I have seen that through CrossFit and calisthenics, more children are beginning to know it and that is also good for my sport. I am glad to have been a reference or a person who has served as an influence for children to start practicing it,” Zapata added.
“I spent two months answering messages because I like to answer practically everyone. There were some medium-rare messages that I didn’t answer and others that expired because I didn’t have time to answer. But yes, out of 85% of the messages they sent me, I answered each and every one of them because it is good to thank people, to show gratitude for the support provided,” said the Hispanic-Dominican.
“It’s true that it’s better to have it all the years; but if they don’t know you, how are they going to give it to you? Now it’s a more recognized sport and I do feel a little more support. With the videos I upload of me jumping, There are always very good comments, I have comments of impulse and motivation,” Zapata confessed about his attitude on social networks.
In addition, he has reviewed his media role: “Luckily my representative and I have worked a lot on that part of the media. There have been some months when we have ruled out all possibilities with the media because we wanted to be more focused on the training work.”
“At the end of the day we are athletes and we have to train. But it is very noticeable when the Olympic Games come that all the media wants to talk to you, all the brands come closer and such. I understand that it is a good part to be able to take advantage of it, attend to to the media, communicate to the followers and influence the little ones. Above all, saying: ‘We are fine and we are going to fight for this,'” he indicated.
Thus, he has advocated for “showing people that you have a goal, that you have desire, that you get up, that you fight and that you have enthusiasm. That transmits good things to the entire population, that people get up with a different spirit and think that things can be achieved; that they breathe nerves of: ‘Oh, let’s see how things go.'” “I think the Olympic spirit is different and we have to take advantage of all opportunities,” she stressed.
He has also compared the Olympic cycle towards Tokyo, five years due to the pandemic, with the one that will end in Paris. “Now it’s the other way around, we have less time. I took the opportunity to have surgery because we had time. Now I had three years instead of four, and on top of that I just had the injury. I don’t know if that’s going to mean anything. Because if I’ve been training longer, maybe The best thing would have been more damage and I wouldn’t have arrived for another year. That makes me say… maybe it indicates something good,” he said.
“NOW I AM MORE POSITIVE, NOT ONLY IN SPORTS”
“But it has also been very complicated,” he warned. “Last year we almost died, man,” he alluded to the traffic accident that the Spanish artistic gymnastics team had in March 2023. “You see things differently and now I am more positive, not only in sport. That’s why I “I have been injured… and I have focused. If I am injured, what am I going to do? Well, I am going to train as much as I can and do whatever part I have to do to not lose my form,” he stressed.
“Many people traumatize all of this. Have I gotten bored? Very much, I have not been able to do what I like and I have not been able to advance or accomplish everything I wanted, but I have taken the opportunity to be with my children. I have respected the deadlines What the doctors told me, I have done everything possible to be well and to be with my family; that is, I have taken advantage of it in other aspects. I think that, since I have been so well and I have not been so worried, that is what I did. It’s going to make it work for me,” he stated ahead of the Olympic Games. from Paris.
“I thought first of my daughter, that was what was present at that moment. And then I say: ‘Wow, man!’. I didn’t think at any time about the Olympic Games or anything. I thought about surviving for my daughter. That made me It makes me realize that I still have to think more about my family, about pleasant moments like being with a friend and all that, and not so much about the Olympic Games. It is true that it is a personal goal and it is something that is experienced with a different intensity. , it is a job; but there is also the other thing, that we must not stop taking care of it and enjoying it,” he pointed out.
“So, why shouldn’t I be a freak and take life with a different vision? Before, sometimes I was very upset about training, which could go well or go badly, or they didn’t go as I expected. And now I say: ‘Well, it’s a bad day and that’s it.’ Or if I can’t jump that day because my digestion was bad and the food was bad, I say: ‘Listen, I’m going to the elliptical because I can’t jump today.’ And that’s it,” he admitted.
“I’m still running and I’m still moving, but I can’t jump. Does it bother me? Yes, but it’s not every day you can jump, it’s not every day you can run; I wish we’d all be great. It’s not every day you’re going to be 100%, not every day something is not going to hurt you. So you have to live everything in its moment. I am a freak, I get up in the morning and I get up with all the motivation. If you saw me with a camera, you would say. : ‘What a fool this is, who is smiling, who is singing there by himself with the music at full volume.’ You fool, who is whistling ahead. I take life with a totally different philosophy,” he highlighted.
Then he introspected his status as an elite athlete: “I don’t recommend it to anyone.” “In the end it is sport and sport has those things. In other words, if I feel like having a beer, I have it and nothing happens. But if in 80 days I have to go to the Olympic Games, it is not right for you to go get drunk or anything like that. You don’t do it because you have a purpose in your life and you have to sacrifice things,” he added.
Likewise, he has denied that it is a disappointment to be left without a medal in Paris. “I have already achieved all my sporting results. When I was little I just wanted to go to the Olympic Games. I already went, I placed eleventh and I said: ‘Wow, how close I am. I want a medal’. I have really had everything I have wanted. So Why shouldn’t I try to want more? And if I don’t get it, then nothing happens because I wouldn’t always be the first or the last to not get it. There are many people who are satisfied just by going. which is already a very great achievement,” Zapata recalled.
Finally, it has taken the pressure off the controversy. “That’s not just the media, it’s also people in general. What people want are medals. Football people only want to see goals and win cups. And the team that doesn’t win, ugh… The third party isn’t worth it.” , the one that counts is the first. Who came second in the League in the year I don’t know what or I don’t know how many? That doesn’t appear anywhere. But the second one has also worked, just as much or more than the first one. I like to see the athlete win, but the athlete doesn’t always win,” he said.