• Book.Ignacio Echeverría, the forge of a hero with skateboard

"A deeply good man" ... After more than two years of the attack on the London Bridge, Joaquín Echeverría looks back and picks up in a book - "This was my son Ignacio: the hero of the skateboard" (JdeJ Editores) - his memories, his emotions and his particular tribute to who was also known as "Igna", "Echeve" or "Abo" (The Lawyers) for his countless friends. With enviable fortitude, although sometimes holding back tears, Joaquin reflects on his role as a father and offers us the most human vision of the deceased son at 39 and lives forever in our memory.

Question: Did you have to close the wounds before you could write the book? I tried to write it the first year, but everything was very recent then. I recovered the idea later, compiling everything I had published about him and the recognitions he had ... My editor (Javier de Juan) then convinced me to make a more personal book, and with a letter at the beginning in which I Sincere as a father. It could hurt me more or less. I have my limitations in some aspects, but it has not been difficult to say. It has not been difficult for me because I have no shame. Writing this book has helped me to be better. "More love and less rules" ... In the letter he acknowledges that it was too hard with Ignacio ... I had little understanding with Ignacio. I saw him as a child in need of protection. He was the one who worried me most about my five children, and that he had to notice . He didn't take me seriously sometimes. We were very far from each other ... We were never close until he turned thirty-something and I began to recognize his merits: he ended up Right at the Sorbonne, worked for HSBC in the City ... I realized that he had much recognition in his specialty, the fight against money laundering, and that he was called to give lectures. Now is when I appreciate many aspects of him that at the time I could not appreciate. To what extent has he met the "other" Ignacio through his friends? Ignacio had a problem: it was not selling well. He was shy by nature and found it difficult to break down barriers , both in labor and personal matters (a woman I admired recognized me after his death that I was determined to share his life with him). Ignacio was also a very hard staff. He put a lot of determination and all his heart into what he did. Was the board his imposture, his way of rebelling? The board was his way of doing something he was passionate about. I still remember when we brought him the first skateboard on a trip to Pittsburgh ... I don't think the board had a component of rebellion, rather of indifference, so to speak. It was his way of doing what he wanted, without anyone caring. And a way to make friends wherever you go. I remember him a lot in Comillas, dyeing shirts with his friends to ride on the table. I still remember how he put the children in his pocket in Las Rozas by raising them on his shoulders when he was on the skateboard, bearing the criticism of the neighbors who said: "You are spoiling the sidewalks with that sport." And now Olympic sports. .. It is curious yes, that in the next Olympic Games give medals for skateboarding. I never thought Ignacio was a good skater, I had to watch the videos and listen to his friends to really appreciate the "tricks" he did. Yes, Ignacio's heroic action has contributed a lot to improving skateboarding, and that is something I am also proud of. Have you ever thought about what you would have done in your situation? You never know how to act in moments like that, control the emotions you have: if you are going to be paralyzed or if you are going to feel a boost like he did. .. Ignacio was what he had to do, what he needed to do in such a situation. He saw terrorists stabbing a woman and didn't think twice. He thought that this was not fair and that he had to do something to avoid it. In the book he recalls a family conversation in which he showed his willingness to attack the terrorists with his table if the occasion arose ... Yes, it was weeks before the attack on the London Bridge. He came to Spain for a few days and the attack on the Westminster Bridge, where a policeman died, was still recent. He told us: "If I had been skating there, this policeman would be alive" ... His brother Enrique told him: "They would have killed you". Ignacio shrugged and said: "So what?" That says it all about how it was. How would you like your child to be remembered? As a deeply good man. This book is first of all a tribute to his goodness. Ignacio was not a brave Cid Campeador style or a Nobel Prize. Iganacio was like that anonymous hero who rescued three people in a fire and when he returned to rescue the fourth he found his own death.

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