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Javi Guerra started running this Sunday's marathon in Seville four years ago.

It was in Rio de Janeiro, where he received the news that he would take away his dream of always, that would change his life. A few hours after debuting in his first Olympic Games, the doctors forbade him to run because on the flight from Madrid he had suffered a thrombus in the left leg twin and his life was in danger.

Everything suffered, worked, risky until then lost its meaning.

And he only had two roads left at 32. Leave athletics without being Olympic, with three Top 20 World Cups as loot, or suffer more, work more, risk more. He decided on the latter. And he accepted it until the last consequences.

From the moment he was out of the Rio Games, the marathoner turned himself in to the preparation of the Tokyo 2020 Games and did it big. In 2018 he lowered his mark to be among the 10 best Spanish ever (2:08:34), in 2019 he decided to miss the Doha World Cup so as not to force a stress fissure and in 2020 he raised the bet. Checking that many of his countrymen, those who could snatch the Olympic square, were flying with the Nike Vaporfly, Guerra decided to break his usual contract with Adidas and buy the already famous shoes. Economically, the wreck was a disaster: not only did he lose Adidas' income, he also fell helpless in the event of an eventual injury or any future design. But he wanted to be an Olympic after the misfortune of the Rio Games and, for that, he could not play at a disadvantage.

With the sole support of the sponsorship of the Spanish sports nutrition brand 226ERS and a friend's restaurant, La Portada de Mediodía, in Torrecaballeros (Segovia), he made all the preparation for this Sunday's marathon in Seville and, in the end, the Bet went well.

Guerra not only proclaimed himself a Spanish marathon champion for the third time, he also established the third best national brand in history (2:07:27) and secured a place with the London Games. Although the Spanish-Moroccan Hamid ben Daoud started at a very high pace and followed him throughout the test, Guerra did not leave his plan at any time and ended up taking the treasure while the Ethiopian Mekuant Ayenew won the marathon (2.04: 47) .

Javi Guerra started running this Sunday's marathon in Seville four years ago and, in the end, he won.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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