• Olympics All about Tokyo 2020

There he was still, in a place from which he did not want to leave. It was like resisting waking up after a dream. I'm not leaving here, no. The track, Tokyo. That place and that moment are unique, the best of a life, short life, but they can be much better. At age 21 and after a preparation between the artisan and the emotional,

Asier Martínez's

room for improvement

in the 110 hurdles is enormous. The sixth place in an Olympic final already places this appearance of Spanish athletics ahead of

Javier Moracho

and

Carlos Sala

, two greats of the tradition of our hurdles. They were seventh. Then

Orlando Ortega

arrived

, made abroad, in Cuba. Asier arrives from Zizur, Pamplona, ​​Navarra, Spain.

The Tokyo finalists are presented on their way out to the track as if they were 'starlets'.

Athletics seeks the 'show'.

Each one leaves a gesture.

Asier, none.

He shot out, concentrating on what was on his mind.

Frivolities, nothing.

I look ahead, on 2nd Street, not at his rivals, monsters like

Grant Holloway

, who was eaten in the Olympic final.

Stage fright.

The Spanish, on the other hand, he puts.

As happened in 800 with

Adrián Ben

or in triple with

Ana Peleteiro

, a generation of competitors arrives on fire.

Maybe not on the best registers, not yet, but at their best in their D days.

"It is the mark that was worth here"

Asier was, by improving his 13.27 in the semifinals to take them to 13.22. "It is the brand that I know was worth in these Games and it has come out when it had to go out," said the Navarrese, serene, after they forced him to leave the track and go towards the mixed zone. He didn't want to, because the scorching Tokyo sun is his place in the sun, as if he were walking around the Plaza de Pamplona after the San Fermín summit run.

Very technical in his passage through the fences, the Navarrese started last after the start, but the passage of each obstacle consolidated his figure and, from 90 meters, he progressed steadily to cross the finish line sixth. Its top speed in the test was 33.9 kilometers per hour. It was the fastest he could run in a final with a podium beyond the reach of his times. At the moment.

Hansle Pachment

, the Jamaican who beat Holloway, did so on 13.04.

The American was the big loser, since silver does not fill an athlete who has been so superior this year, in which he has remained one hundredth of the world record. Has raced at 12.81. With that time, silver tastes like chocolate. He could not hide it despite the hugs offered to the winner. The other American,

Davon Allen

, was left off the podium with 13.14, in a final that restores some of the power lost by Jamaica in men's sprint. Usain Bolt has orphaned them.

"This has been the best of my career and my life, and now I want to celebrate it with a good party with my team and my training group," said Asier.

They had all been very aware of the hurdler on television.

Get him in, Asier, get in Meteleee !!

With that battle cry, most of their messages ended in a video sent from Pamplona.

It was started by his coach,

François Beoringyan

, who

lived

in the Navarran capital 19 years ago.

He directs the group of height and fences of the Atético Pamplona, ​​but does not live on athletics.

Away from the elite preparation circuits, he soon learned what he was up to and sent videos of the Navarrese to important hurdlers he contacted to help him improve with their advice and corrections.

Before the final, Beoringyan was already clear that "if Asier has been able to run at 13.27 at 21, why not think of 13.10 at 29."

Now it's 13.22.

With 13.10, it is possible to settle on the big podiums.

It is with the one that in Tokyo was placed the bronze

Ronald Levy

, also from Jamaica.

At the moment, he is already the second youngest Spaniard to be an Olympic finalist (classified in the top eight), after

Antonio Corgos

in length, in Moscow'80.

"Don't think that something is impossible"

The coach, raised in France, is in love with the Cuban school of hurdles, which is distinguished by its refined technique in passing obstacles. Three measured strides, Asier gives between one and the other. He does it, despite being myopic, with two graduation diopters, without glasses or contact lenses. "I see little, really", the athlete admits, laughing. "He does the race from memory, he does not need them, he is focused on his street, with very marked automatisms," adds Beoringyan.

"I want more, but what has to come will come," concluded the hurdler.

Paris awaits him, with 24 years, but before many other things.

The union he has found with his coach has been key.

In his case, the postponement of the Games for one year due to the pandemic was an opportunity to improve.

A Political Science student in Bilbao, he saved himself traveling by following the degree 'online' and being able to spend more time in Pamplona.

That tuning with the coach is not strictly technical, but also emotional.

Beoringyan claims to be like a second father to this son of a hurdler.

Before traveling to Tokyo, he told her: "Don't ever think that something is impossible, forget it and give it a shot."

"Meteleeee!"

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Spain Olympics

  • sports

Tokyo OlympicsJesús Ángel García Bragado: "Without cheats I would have an Olympic medal"

Tokyo OlympicsKristian Blummenfelt, the Viking bull who loves savagery

Tokyo GamesDavid Valero, his work in the field, the motivation of Luis Aragonés and the confidence of his three-year-old son

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Translator

  • Tokyo Results

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Master investigative journalism

  • Spain - France, live