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Suddenly, on Friday March 13, Aleix Heredia appeared at his parents' house in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, next to Barcelona, ​​with a sword, a jacket and a fencing mask, a laser pistol, a target, an exercise bike He had just bought from Wallapop several dumbbells, a sit-up board, and even a high-end treadmill that had been loaned to him by his sponsor, Reebok, with nearby facilities. Very few athletes had it worse than him to continue practicing his sport during quarantine. Very few now have it better to keep fit.

Heredia needs an introduction: he is the best Spanish in modern pentathlon. And the modern pentathlon needs presentation: it is a sport symbol of the Olympic Games, which combines fencing (in single bouts), swimming (200 meters free), horse riding (competition with 15 jumps) and, in the final test, athletics ( 3,200 meters divided into four 800) and Olympic shooting.

The forecast of Heredia, who decided to go home 24 hours before their home had been closed for years, the CAR de Sant Cugat, now allows her to train "three disciplines a day". It has two advantages, yes, which he explains himself: "I am lucky that my parents live in a big house with a patio, and my little sister, Laura , who is also a pentathlete, is very good with me [she is runner-up in the junior world and absolute Spanish champion] and we can train together. " On any normal day of confinement, he does running work on the treadmill and a shooting session in the morning, and fencing technique in the afternoon. "I am lucky, I can keep working for all these years. I cannot train swimming and horse riding, but in this situation that is the least of it," says Heredia, aware of the situation because of his profession: he is a doctor.

Until 15 days ago, he combined his sports life with two jobs in private healthcare, one in general medicine at the Center Mèdic La Garriga and another in his specialty, aesthetic medicine, at the Clinica Dra. Escoda in Barcelona. Now, with both centers closed, he prepares to help if necessary at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital, where he practiced the race. "I will not deny you that it gives respect. My colleagues who are working there explain to me the situation in the ER, the lack of material, how they should reuse masks for several days ... The risk of contracting the virus is high and, in that situation, you can become a carrier and do more harm than good, "accepts Heredia, who at the same time breathes relief from the postponement of the Games.

Before the coronavirus tore all the calendars to pieces, Heredia was about to get the ticket for Tokyo and to become the first Spanish pentathlete in a Games since Beijing 2008. He was seventh in the ranking that grants between eight and 12 places and He had before him World Cup events in Sofia, Budapest and Seoul. Now you must wait for next year to certify your classification. "It was a strange situation, I love to compete, but the most important thing was to prioritize the health of everyone," says the person who ended up in the modern pentathlon "by trickery."

Heredia, in reality, like so many, was going for a footballer. He started at the Marianao de Sant Boi, they called him from Espanyol and with one year he had enough. "We were 10 or 11 years old and there were already parents insulting each other in a game, I didn't like it," he recalls and, then, he began to try the many disciplines that his school offered him, the Escola Llor, which he already trained the Gasol brothers. There they soon saw that he won all the school crossovers to which he applied and that he had a body for the other large section of the school: strange as it may seem, yes, next to basketball, in the courtyard of this school in Sant Boi the modern pentathlon. It begins by uniting athletics and swimming, then they introduce the shot and at the end, fencing.

"Pentathlon is a little-known but very entertaining sport. Every day you prepare a discipline that is very different from the rest. In the morning you are riding a horse and then fencing. You don't have time to get bored. Let these tell me days, "summarizes Heredia before returning to the gym at her parents' house where, with her sister as sparring, she will continue to pass the quarantine.

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