The horn sounded farewell. Away with the stormy Gloria, on January 24, Beatriz Ferrer Salat decided to ride through the forest with one of her young horses, as she had done so many times since she was a child, but the ride this time only lasted a few minutes: the animal was frightened by For an unknown reason, it galloped uncontrollably down a slope and the rider was blown up . In the fall the blow was dry. "I couldn't move, I saw that I felt my fingers and toes, but nothing else," he recalls. The medical part, pubic fracture, sacrum fracture and internal bleeding, determined that it was necessary to operate and, therefore, that there was no other choice but to say goodbye. After the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2016 Games, a two-time medalist, Ferrer Salat would miss his fifth Olympic date due to injury. What other option was there?

The possibility of a global pandemic forcing the postponing of the Tokyo Games was only in the minds of the best science fiction authors. But just two months after making public his resignation from the Olympic process due to the accident, Ferrer Salat has options again . At least, an athlete favored by all this.

Yes, yes, it has favored me. Obviously I am not happy about what is happening , far from it. But sportingly, the postponement of the Games is an opportunity. With more than a year to spare, I have time to recover from the injury and even train and classify Elegance, a young horse that would not have been ready for this summer. He had planned to go to Tokyo with Delgado, who was already in Rio, but is 19 years old and the Japanese weather conditions would have been very hard for him. Now I start from scratch », recognizes Ferrer Salat, daughter of Carlos Ferrer Salat, who was president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE).

"I still have left"

In his huge blocks in Gualba, about 50 kilometers from Barcelona, ​​he has already made progress in recovery and even begins to stumble. “I was in a wheelchair for several weeks, then on crutches and now I am free without them, although I still have left. At home I have a gym and I follow the rehabilitation that they are marking me. Maybe in May I can already get on a horse and we'll see how long it takes to recover my rhythm, "says the rider and businesswoman. Among his tasks, in addition to recovery, is the maintenance of the stables without being able to ride the horses due to a legal imperative to avoid accidents: on the premises of the place, there are eight waiters who work with the animals on the ground.

"Clients cannot come and it is forbidden to ride for safety , so as not to collapse the hospitals, but we continue to work with the horses, of course," he analyzes at 54, and still in the spirit of facing a new Olympic classification and those that need. In fact, although he assures that he will not end up as the Japanese rider Hiroshi Hoketsu, who at 79 years old is still looking for the ticket for Tokyo, he says that he will continue until he stops having fun. For this, she was already part of the Spanish team that achieved the classification and she only has to be chosen from among the members of the team that will attend the Olympic event.

The competition calendar, which should restart in the summer and continue until next spring, now benefits you. “Now I am attentive to the new dates that must be established by the different federations, but I am clear that I will do everything in my power to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Such an opportunity, so highly unexpected, must be take advantage of it », concludes Ferrer Salat.

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