Try typing ' Saúl Craviotto ' in the Google search engine on any given day. The result will explain some things about him: "The Christmas menu proposed by Saúl Craviotto" or "Craviotto leads the protest of the elite canoeists for the closure of the Gijón navigable ring" are some of the news that appear in the results.

The life of Saúl Craviotto (Lleida, 1984) has taken many turns in recent years. National Police Agent at the Gijón police station, first. Gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games , silver in London 2012 and gold and bronze in Rio de Janeiro 2016, later. And winner, in 2017 and finally, of the TVE TV show ' MasterChef Celebrity ', which crowned him as the best chef in Spain.

The combination of professional success, sports and media have made Craviotto an SUV capable of withstanding the pressure of television and the tension of the final of a World Cup or a Games. In that always unfair reality in which he has achieved more recognition , it seems, to win a television contest than to hang four Olympic medals around his neck, something that few athletes in the history of Spain have achieved.

Merits that have convinced, in the absence of making it official, the Spanish Olympic Committee to elect him ahead of Lydia Valentín and Mireia Belmonte as Spanish flag bearer for Tokyo 2020 . "There is no one who has two golds, a silver and a bronze", justified Alejandro Blanco, president of the IOC, before the questions about the candidacies of Valentín and Belmonte, who got a gold each and who aspired to be the first woman in carry the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony. «That is the norm and is accepted by all athletes. Skinny favor we would do if we put the most famous instead of the one with the most merits, ”he added. In the same tone was expressed David Cal , who with a gold and four silver is considered one of the best athletes in the history of Spain: «Golds prevail and he has two. I have it clear".

Popularity

After winning 'MasterChef Celebrity', Craviotto has lived the best and the worst of fame. His face began to travel from set to set and began to be recognized for ordinary Spaniards: a perfume by Adolfo Domínguez, Danone, the Colacao, Reebok, UCAM scholarships, Baume & Mercier watches, Cupra cars, San Miguel , Heinz, Aquadeus water, Rowenta, HSN nutrition stores, Captain Peanut peanut butter ... The magazines 'Hola' and 'Men's Health', the book 4 years for 32 seconds , more than 200,000 followers on your account Instagram ... But that hurt him in his daily work in the Police. Or, more, well, it shifted him. At the beginning of this year he confessed to a public appearance that he had been "taken out of the street" after leaving the kitchen program because of the problem that some detainee could recognize him. The leadership took him away from the patrol and sent him to a citizen participation group that talks in schools and institutes to prevent alcohol and drug use among young people.

Now he is training, first in Valencia and then in Seville, for his "big dream" this summer: climbing to the top of a Games for the third time in his career. He has repeated the 'modus operandi' of 2018, train in the south or in the Mediterranean during the coldest months and climb to Asturias when temperatures rise slightly and the rain ceases. The result, unbeatable: in August of this year he won the world silver in the K-4 500 and the fast ticket to Tokyo , something that on other occasions he had to wait for the same year of the Games. In Asia you will have the possibility to match or overcome, it depends on how many specialties you compete, Cal as the Spanish athlete with the most Olympic medals . In the distance, the obvious thought of the withdrawal: " I do not want to announce my withdrawal , but it smells like it may be my last Olympiad and I would like to close a brilliant sports career there," he acknowledged.

"Fulfill a dream"

"A twenty-year-old with his agenda would be impossible," admitted Miguel García , his coach, to this newspaper. There lies Craviotto's long success. A privileged physicist and the hangover of a youth in which he has not stopped working. That is why now his body responds to him despite the demands of the media boom, something that according to his environment he has accepted naturally and has even come "mentally well." "After Rio needed a break, Masterchef came out and his way of thinking has changed, " Garcia explained.

In Tokyo, where Spain is the only country that has classified a team in all three distances, Craviotto will compete in the K-4 with a 'Dream Team' in which there are seven paddlers with a ticket (four of the K-4, two of the K-2 and one in K-1), but only six seats, so one must double competition. The decision will be taken in the March trials . Dispute the disputed ones, the flag bearer will be the star : «If the criteria are followed I will have the honor of being one. It is a dream that remains to be fulfilled and I will be the happiest person in the world ».

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Olympic Games
  • sports
  • more sport

More Sport The greatest sanction in the history of sport: Russia will not be able to participate in Games or in World Cups for four years

Tokyo 2020 Alberto Ginés will be the first Spanish climber to play some Olympics

Athletics Goodbye to the myth of athletics Peter Snell