• Confinement - a target in the garage

Goalkeeper Miguel Alvariño does not understand that the Archery Federation has taken away the Olympic place that a few months ago won on its own merits. The coravirus and a controversial decision by his superiors have left him in check. Suddenly, earlier this week, he received an email informing him that the ticket of the Spanish team was again in the air, pending to be assigned in the future, when the competitions can resume. His effort to earn the right to be in Tokyo 2020 is not worth 2021. Now he starts from scratch again.

The news sat like a shot at the Galician. He was not expecting it, although his superiors in the Federation assure that he already knew the criteria for the allocation of places long ago. "In the concentration we did in Turkey, when the state of Alarma was declared, we remind him of this," says Rubén Montes, the technical director of the national team. A warning that Alvariño's coach, Xaquim Nira , flatly denies. "It is a lie that they told you anything like that."

From the Federation they defend their change of criteria. "We want to make sure that the goalkeeper is in the best shape," he defends the controversial decision, the only one on the Spanish Olympic sports grid. In the rest of Federations, the squares conquered are not in danger. Whoever won to go to Tokyo 2020 can go to 2021. Something that the Spanish Olympic Committee and its president, Alejandro Blanco , has publicly defended . Alvariño now intends to go to the country's top sports bodies, COE and CSD , to protest the shocking decision of the archery federation.

There they insist on their position, according to director Montes. "Our criteria have been clear for a long time. Everyone knows it. The team wins the place and then it is assigned nominally. In 2020 it was Miguel, but in 2021 we will see. If he is the best again, it will be for him," he guarantees. His version collides with that of the affected, who even plans to go to court to defend what he considers to be his conquered right. A lawyer specializing in sports law, Miguel Juane is already studying the case, not forgetting the financial damages of his client in the form of loss of sponsors or the scholarship for going to the Games.

"It is an outrage, they have stolen the Olympic square," protests the Alvariño coach. Precisely, last Sunday, in the DXT of the newspaper EL MUNDO, a report appeared about the goalkeeper's confinement, his training at home and his Olympic ambitions. "I prepare to win gold," he confessed hopefully. At no time did he express doubts about the firmness of his classification. He had it for 2020 and took it for granted by 2021, provided the Games can finally be held next year in the Japanese capital.

Classification Earned

Now he does not understand what has happened. His people say he is sunk. Without prior notice, he received the email where he was snatched from the place for the second Games of his life, after Rio 2016. In February, he managed to earn the position that Spain had secured months ago. He won the qualifier and was assigned as the representative of the team in the individual category, ahead of Pablo Acha.

Publication on the COE Facebook wall.

The social networks of the national Federation announced this, as did the international Federation. Miguel then signed a commitment contract for the athletes for their preparation and participation in the Games. His accreditation for the Olympic event was also underway, including the facial recognition photograph that in Tokyo will be essential to enter the athletes' villa. This whole process is part of the documentation that the archer's lawyer has in his possession to be able to defend the consistency of his Olympic position in the eyes of the same Federation that now questions it.

"It doesn't happen in any other sport, why in archery? Is it fair that they treat a boy like this who has fought hard and earned his right to be in the Games proving that he was the best?" their coach wonders. In the Federation they insist that their criteria are clear and support the idea of ​​betting on the best goalkeeper of the year. Regulations, yes, that did not contemplate an exception such as the delay of the Games due to a pandemic.

Train in Galicia

Behind the controversy between Alvariño and the Federation an old conflict arises. It was never seen well in the official offices that the Galician chose to train on his land (As Pontes) and not in the CAR of Madrid , as other goalkeepers of the national team do. They reproach him for Rio 2016 not preparing properly. He himself acknowledges his mistake then, just like the radical change facing Tokyo.

Diet, gym, new psychologist ... The evolution led him to surpass the rest of the candidates of the selection, although his method never finished convincing the federation technicians, who still promise to reassign him the place for 2021, if he he wins it again. A disposition that the environment of Alvariño doubts, after the disappointment suffered now. They suspect that behind this unforeseen turn there are personal issues and not sports arguments. Miguel, meanwhile, continues every morning in confinement, obediently connecting from his garage to the Federation's online program , to continue with the marked training. On the screen, the technicians who have given him the chagrin of his life.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Turkey
  • Galicia
  • Spain
  • Olympic Games
  • Coronavirus

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