Bolivia continues to celebrate the victory of Oruro distance runner Héctor Garibay, who achieved glory in Mexico after winning the Mexico City Marathon, but without his mentor Nemea Coca (Nemia Coca), nothing would be possible. Tracking is key to exporting athlete talent.
In an interview, Coca recounted how he met Garibay and revealed that his introduction to athletics was a coincidence, arising from an injury and the advice of a physiotherapist.
“He was a footballer to die for but he got injured and the physio told him to jog until he recovered. So, he came to the track and there I saw him and I saw him jogging and one day He ran 50 laps and I said, “This boy is really good, he’s going to be a long-distance runner.” “I invited him to my club to become a long-distance runner, I spoke loudly to him and I knew he would represent the national team,” Koca said.
The coach was so impressed with Garibay’s performance that she tried to enroll him in the Oruro government’s high-performance program.
Coca has been dedicated to the sport since he was 15 years old, and he has taken this passion to different places, most of them fraught with difficulty.
He told Red Uno that he often competed in sneaker competitions and that money was always scarce in his environment, however, his passion went one step further.
A few years later she became coach of the Pie de Viento club, a nurturing ground for national athletes, where she met Garibaj and coached those who represented the country at the Paris Olympics.
Today, everything is filled with celebrations and happiness, however, until recently, Garibbe’s future was uncertain, according to Koca, who revealed that the athlete was about to throw in the towel.
Due to a lack of government support and financial difficulties, the athlete stopped training and looked like he was leaving the sport. However, Coca knocked on every possible door to secure financing in order to give Garibay the conditions to compete, and it worked.
“He was not selected by the Deputy Ministry of Sports Fund and was therefore discouraged. He disappeared for a month and I was very sad. When he finally answered me in tears, I told him: “You cannot terminate your talent, we must finish This plan. “I got the money so I could go to the Natividad Clinic and Dr. Plaza was the one who listened to my prayers and I’m happy with this victory,” he said.
The coach asked Sports Undersecretary Chelo Vizaga to support these young talents.
“For those authorities who were there, like the Deputy Minister of Sports, we fought a lot to support sports. He was already discouraged about participating in the Olympics and the World Cup, and he became discouraged because he was in the midst of a plan to distribute 3,000 bolivianos Didn’t see my name,” he said.
read more