• LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO

    @LucasSaezBravo

    Madrid

Updated on Friday, 16July2021-11: 51

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They will be like two fleeting medals, those of

Damián Quintero and Sandra Sánchez

in kata, world references of a sport that was born and died in Japan, its birthplace.

«We have a responsibility with karate», pronounces this man from Malaga born in Buenos Aires, a guy so sure of himself that one day he left his job as an aeronautical engineer in a multinational company to bet on a dream that will come true on August 6 in the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

At the age of 37, Quintero was

world champion in 2014

, is six times champion of Europe, number one in the ranking and favorite for gold along with the Japanese Ryo Kiyuna. He competes in "hostile territory", which is why the definitive absence of an audience in the stands is not so much drama for him. "What seemed less correct to me was that only local spectators were allowed in," he says. Because his thing, although it's karate, doesn't consist of fighting - "I never liked being touched on my face," he jokes. He is clear that to win a medal in kata, "an imaginary combat", he has to impress: "Make the jury's hair stand on end, goose bumps." And that, since always, he is very good at. Put your heart on the mat. That you are not a robot, that the explosive part is seen, but also the technique and the feeling. You have to convey feeling, "he insists.

That is why it is impressive to see him train live, a hypnotic choreography, the sound of the karategui, the guttural cry of the kiais. Repeat, repeat and repeat until you reach perfection, because in three minutes their lives are going. «I have it in my blood, they have been doing it for so many years ....

We have no margin for error

. Because it is not a fight in which you can come back. A failure sends us home, "he says about that state of ecstasy in which they seem to levitate. «The level of mental concentration has to be excellent. Get away from everything. Judges, audience, pavilion, event. There is only the tatami and you. And you have to try to enjoy kata, that's the key, ”he explains.

Even more pressure on them, who will no longer have the Paris 2024 mattress. And they well know the colossal difference between being an Olympic sport or not. Scholarships, recognition, exposure ... There were anonymous Spanish world champions. «

José Manuel Egea, Iván Leal, Óscar Vázquez

... They have been the ones who have paved the way. Because in the 90s there was already talk that karate was going to be Olympic and look what it has cost. The medal will be for all of them, “he proclaims with the rage still nailed at the exclusion from the Games program.

Although, whatever happens in those four kata that has been burned to Japan -after a 15-day concentration in Sierra Nevada with his coach,

Jesús del Moral

, he leaves for another preview in the Japanese city of Fujinomiya-, no longer there is a turning back for Quintero. «In addition to my career, I have two master's degrees in sports management. The end is not far away, one goes on thinking, it's been 20 years in the national team, you have to step aside. I already had my time as a calculation engineer and I would like to stay in sport, because I think I have a lot to contribute, ”he admits.

During the pandemic, in addition to the uncertainty, the "moments of madness" and the difficulties in training - he managed in the basement of his house - Damián wasted no time. He added a new weapon to his repertoire, the

Ohan Dai

. «A new kata, which I have already tried in competition. I have been valued very well and I feel comfortable with him. I take it in the list of four that I will use in Tokyo. This last week I have been polishing the other kata to surprise. I'm happy, "he announces.

Quintero, who will carry in his suitcase the computer well loaded with series, who celebrated Argentina's triumph in the Copa América despite the fact that "I feel 100% Spanish" (he

arrived in Torremolinos with his family at the age of five

), who He is not "a big fan" of the success of 'Cobra Kai' - "In the old Karate Kid they do do some more real kata" - and that he drags his feet "like a bull" on the tatami before the competition, he has very clear to whom I would do a kata in real life.

«It bothers me when people talk without knowing, the smart people on social networks.

Politics, sports ... You have to know how to accept criticism, but the haters who are going to hurt you ... », he complains.

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