Shot Thus won the gold medal
Bronze tennis of Carreño's courage against a deranged Djokovic
Avanza Spain medal table with five metals
Milestone against pessimism All teams in Spain, in the quarterfinals
When
Alberto Fernández
takes off his shooting range uniform, black shirt and cap, glasses with graduated red lenses, and poses for the photographers biting his gold medal, he has an air of King Mohamed VI of Morocco.
Younger and with more hair, but even the Japanese Games volunteer to whom we showed the photo of the monarch while we pointed to the Spanish shooter, says that they do look alike.
It must be the trimmed beard.
What is unquestionable is that Alberto shares with the residents of the Alawite kingdom an admirable serenity when facing the moments of greatest tension.
Shotgun in hand, aim at the plate and
BOOM
.
It does not fail at the key moment.
It does not matter if it is infernally hot in Tokyo with 35 degrees of temperature and that the sun is in front of you.
It blends in so well with your Perazzi MX2000, which has good lead and little recoil, that nothing distracts you.
Cold and precise.
Alberto has not missed any of his last 21 shots in the final.
If we stretch his numbers to the entire most important Olympic shooting day of his life: he
has missed a clay pigeon out of the 100 times he has pulled the trigger
on the track in Asaka, one of the 42 venues of the Tokyo Olympics.
But it is the only one that is based on a military base, specifically the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
When Spain dawned, in Tokyo a pair of Olympic pit shooters (mixed trap) won a gold medal.
The first and only time at the Games.
Blame it on a left-handed prodigy who shoots with the right.
A
Fatima Galvez
(34 years), his father
Pius
taught him to shoot with 11 years in Baena (Córdoba) and three years later was already champion Spain.
This was his third Olympic participation.
The previous ones brushed the medal, but had to settle for a diploma.
Out with the nailed thorn.
Although the final against the tough team from San Marino was not his best performance.
Triple world champion
Fatima was very nervous.
Quite the opposite of his partner Alberto.
The triple world champion, a native of a town of 1,000 inhabitants of Toledo, Belvís de la Jara, gave a recital hitting 24 of 25 shots in the final, making the ghosts of the failures in his other three appearances in the Olympic Games disappear.
The secret?
"After Rio 2016, I recruited a
coach
to help me lose my anxiety and learn to enjoy the game to stop suffering every time I competed," Alberto said after the final.
That
coach
is called
Diego Gutiérrez
, is Doctor of Science of Physical Activity and Sport and has spent 18 years
coaching
sports at the academy of Atletico Madrid. "Alberto contacted me five years ago. We have worked hard on the importance of enjoying the Games, which he had not done in previous games. We have used a cognitive training program, working to improve confidence, focused attention and the tranquility in the moments of greatest tension ", Gutiérrez explains to EL MUNDO.
"Alberto had the inner anguish of being a three-time world champion, having been in the elite for 12 years, being recognized in shooting worldwide and not having been able to get a medal because mentally he was not as a sportsman should be. elite in a competition of that level ", continues the
coach
.
"He has worked very well on the mental aspect. Of all the elite athletes I work with, he is the one who best knows how to manage both victory and defeat. Both Alberto and Fátima lost in singles and have recovered very well", judgment.
Alberto Fernandez during the Olympic shooting final.REUTERS
"Few people are really aware of what an athlete has behind when they are in the Olympic Games. It is a preparation of many years and sacrifice, in which federations, coaches, the Olympic committee are involved, etc. When you get there, you carry on your back an important backpack. If you do not know how to manage that weight it can weigh you down the entire competition ", explains
José Antonio Colado
, technical director at the Spanish Olympic Shooting Federation.
"There are few sports that have a level of mental demand like Olympic shooting. Many athletes have a lot of pressure because they carry the responsibility of doing a good job and justifying all the resources that have been invested in their preparation by many, many people. Some They are playing the bread they take home. Either you have a very great mental strength or it is impossible for sports performance to be compensated, "says Colado.
The Spanish national anthem finally sounded on the Tokyo podium eight days after the opening ceremony.
"For me this was a game. I wanted to come and have a lot of fun," said Alberto.
"I have suffered a little more at the beginning. The beginning has been a bit disaster, but the important thing is that we have come back. Mentally we were very prepared," answered Fatima.
A man from Toledo and a woman from Cordoba have had to team up with a shotgun to give Spain an Olympic gold.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Spain Olympics
HBPR
Tokyo Olympics Why is Spain a world power in team sports?
Tokyo OlympicsInterview with standard bearer Saúl Craviotto: "When it's not in fashion, I'll keep my feet on the ground"
On a day like today Paavo Nurmi: the legend of the flying Finn
See links of interest
Last News
Tokyo results
2021 business calendar
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Master investigative journalism
Novak Djokovic - Pablo Carreño, live
Spain - Ivory Coast, live
Hungary - Spain, live