The Absolute Redemption of Maria Perez, Gold Medal in Budapest World Cup 20km March | Sporting

“When she’s happy, Maria moves,” said Jacinto Garzón, also happy, crackly, after exchanging a Spanish flag (one with a bull) for a kiss from his athletes Not happy in the clouds, very happy María Pérez sings: “What a foot that took me down this path, shaking to the rhythm of my hips” she sings to the competition she beats Opponent Kimberly García, a Peruvian from Huancayo, not Lima. A few meters later, after walking almost 20,000 meters between Andráss Avenue and Heroes Square, after 20 circles of thousands, the statue on the bank of the Danube is so huge, 27-year-old Perez, from Granada, from Austria Erce, from the hard mountains north, almost stopped, left the procession, walked, approached almost in slow motion the tape marking the last line, and did not push it, but grabbed it with his hands, almost angrily, as if he wanted to break it. She crossed the finish line, already world champion, and behind her, in the distance, world champion Kimberly, Olympic champion, Italian Antonella Palmisano from Puglia, and Maria Perez He fell to the ground and cried happily.

Salvation is absolute.

After finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, the European champion five years ago reached his prime at the age of 22 after a 2022 crisis, disqualification and doubts. Or, as Garzon puts it, his coach, the Ferrari engine who once suffered on the chassis of a utility vehicle, has found the perfect fit and performance, and the pure power is already speed, flow, conveying the character of an athlete in a small body as tough, sensitive and emotional as the land that raised her. “The usual Maria is back, people always expect a lot from her, she owes people what they expect and I think I’ve done that,” said the athlete, who would later win Spain’s second World Cup gold medal. Budapest 2023 is the ninth in its history, five of which, his, Valenti Massana’s, Chuso García Bragado’s, Miguel Angel López’s, ex A day of Alvaro Martin’s, has been obtained by experts in progress, the sport condemned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as disappearing, because the IOC believes that the sport in the age of surfing, skateboarding, skateboarding, etc. Outdated and boring, and the International Federation has not defended the sport. “I’m back and the best way to come back is not to blame anyone or anything. It was my fault. I continued to work, to go through hard and lonely times alone, tears, difficult times, but I have nothing but respect for my family, my My team, my friends, everyone, especially Beatriz Pascual and Josep. Coach Marin helped me and stayed with me until Romeu’s last training session. I know Who I am, they know who I am. I just have to bide my time.”

Jacinto Garzón next door was even more emotional, talking about María Pérez translating power into speed and walking skills, where previously María Pérez had only power , walks like a soldier, stiff, with dynamic arm movements, not very athletic, and to explain, he recounts all the work of the scientists and scholars he consulted, José Marin, José Antonio Carrillo, Chuso García Bragado, a sponge who learns from everyone, talks about his physiologist and nutritionist Jesús Rodríguez Huertas recommending more food and less supplementation with salt, serum, Flectomin taken during the test , and the bottle she chooses from the refreshment bar based on her body’s needs. Talk about throwing your body forward for support. He discussed the highly concentrated situation with Carrillo’s group, Alvaro Martin’s group, Sierra Nevada, Font Romeu’s group and four days later. He was talking about HIT exercises, high-intensity, short-duration, 30 seconds, in the intermittent hypoxia chamber, where the scarce oxygen at an altitude of 3,200 meters is converted into hemoglobin in the blood. He spoke of a weekend of training on impossible roads around Guadix, in which María Pérez, who lives in Granada, suffered and became strong, and his wife, Noi ( Noe) accompanied her to Budapest, where they hugged her excitedly behind the fence.

He talked about science and empirical knowledge, about experience, about the wisdom imparted by old teachers, about his athletes traveling at a speed of 4 meters 20 per kilometer, and at a speed of 4 meters 15, attacking with a huge speed change at five kilometers from the finish line, same speed, As the wise Carrillo suggested, Álvaro Martin had the same temper, the same decision the day before. “I made a change because I knew that if I stay within 4.5m in the last five races, the medal is mine and no one can surpass me, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do,” said one of the races. said the limping Perez. Her left leg was already cold and she could barely walk, but she managed to beat all the competitors, Australia’s Jemima Montag was the only one who tried to follow her and finished second, Palmisano ( Palmisano) won the bronze medal. Kimberly, behind, was fourth. “When I hit with the axe, it put a strain on my hamstring insertion, but I said, look, there’s no more pain here, and I’ll take it till the end. That said, finally the dream came true, me and I The team’s dreams come true. When I wear the Spain jersey, I’m happy and I give my all, which I always do even in difficult times, sometimes I vomit. There’s no better way to say it The march continues in Spain. Alvaro said it and I say it: I think athletes are nothing without their coaches and Spain has the best coaching staff.”

While he was talking about so many things, Jacinto Garzón reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out three or four photographs, all wrinkled and sweaty, the Christ of the Seza, the Carrillo amulet, the picture of Santa Teresa, all of his The worshiper, she says, is of course decisive, the life, the character, the irrepressible desire to transform reality, the irrepressible desire to transcend oneself, of the Saint of Ávila, a holy teacher of the Church, is seen. This is evident in María Pérez, at least a doctor on the march, who hardly sleeps, so tense, feels the call with so much anticipation, when the sun just rises over the Danube and shines She seeks and finds redemption as she shines.

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