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And, after all, great Games. Those of the Covid, those of uncertainty, those of silence in the stands, those of the great absences for Spain, those of the infinite legends of our sport who said goodbye ... those of the 17 medals. And the Games in which we learned to decipher a kata (or we tried). The usual Games. Stagnant? Maybe In crisis? Not so much.

Olympically Spain, we have to conclude, is the clamp that goes from 15 to 20 medals. If there are more golds, as in Rio, more joy. If there are more medals of them, as in London, more hope. If veterans win, more recognition. If young people are the ones who push, more hope. In Tokyo there was a mixture of all that. With an asterisk to take into account.

There were only three golds and in specialties, with all due respect, with not too much, let's call it that, roots

.

Not one merit can be subtracted from them. On the contrary,

shooting, climbing and karate

, so minority the first two, so sadly little Olympic the third, increase their golden value due to their exclusivity. But neither can the general joke among the Spanish envoys be ignored when the marksmanship of

Alberto Fernández

and

Fátima Gálvez

gave the first alegrón. Because his 'hunting' figure, shotgun on his shoulder, red glasses and a vest to which one imagined a herd of partridges hanging, contrasted with the herculean

Niko Shera

.

The judoka cried desperately, one of those 'safe' medals that were going to escape.

The shooters smiled, pure spontaneity, some classic Olympians who had always stayed so close to the target that they were no longer counted on so much.

Fátima Gálvez and Alberto Fernández, gold in shooting.REUTERS

Veterans were the cross of these Games, although it is true that we should not demand much more from guys who have already left us a life of wonder. To

Alejandro Valverde

,

Javier Gómez Noya,

Mireia Belmonte

, the

Gasol

brothers

,

Carla Suárez

,

Laia Palau

... what to say but thank you. By the way, in cycling, chaotic since the night before an auxiliary tested positive and unleashed all the alarms, the torture went beyond Fuji. Both

Joseba Eleguezabal

and the coach

Momparler

, his roommate who was also infected, spent 14 days, as a penance, in his room in the Villa. They escaped to Spain ago nothing, with a welcome biblical steak waiting for them.

Another thing that could not be lacking in Tokyo were suspicions. The '

ens steal

' Olympic version. There can be no Games without your little dandruff. Although, it is true, that among the displaced troops not as much chauvinism is distilled as that which comes from some television and radio commentaries. But of course, it also makes you blush when in such dazzling sports as boxing or judo, so for expert eyes, so pinpoint and tight, the decision of the judges that harmed us was debated profusely. "I have seen it clearly!", It was heard. Here you could insert that emoticon of a pensive face.

Later, some athletes rode the wave of protest (perhaps with good reason) and others, more elegant, that of self-criticism.

These extremes were well seen in boxing, where they

clearly

'

stole

' the medal of

Enmanuel Reyes Pla

- the

Prophet

, a unique fighter for his daring, his talent and his verbiage in the Mohamed Ali-and

Gabriel Escobar way

.

Poor

Gazi Jalidov

, another great news of our sport, guys with vital stories that make us empathize, there was no doubt: the Russian

Khataev

knocked him out so savagely that he unleashed a wave of concern in the stands about the Spanish state of health.

Sandra Sánchez, gold in kata.REUTERS

On the opposite side, karate, where there was no excuse for scoring

Damián Quintero

, although the day before

Sandra Sánchez

wore her gold won over the Japanese and still slipped a "I almost screwed it up" for the judges, everyone was thinking about that the man from Malaga was "going to pay for them all together", because presumably he was also going to see them with the local, as it was.

The eternal bus trips from one headquarters to another, after passing through the MPC (press center), give for many cabals (and for many nods too, in Japan they call it '

inemuri

'). The thing about the medal beads is a classic from day one. Those first days of semi-freedom, of a quarantine that some complied strictly, others obviated strictly and most of them challenged like children playing English hide and seek (each day a little step further and five more minutes, to see what happened), the companions de

Marca

recorded a survey. And they all nailed it because, going back to the beginning, Spain is the range that goes from 15 to 20.

And there were the days of pessimism. Extreme pessimism. As in all Games. More of this Spain that is used to something very ours on the other hand, leaving everything to the last moment. Because after the adolescent and early joy of

Adriana Cerezo

, one of those breaths of fresh air that illuminates everything, disappointments came like a torrent. The triathlon -with an early morning so inappropriate to go to Odaiba Park that one no longer knew what day it was-, judo, cycling, the contagion of

Jon Rahm

, the tennis players who became dehydrated or fell in the fourth, the injury of

Orlando Ortega

...

But an Olympic event is so frantic that, suddenly,

Novak Djokovic

rages - his memes, another image of the Games - and

Pablo Carreño

wins the bronze of a life with the cicadas (the Japanese specimen reaches astonishing dimensions) as the soundtrack. And

Maialen Chourraut

spreads her legend in the white waters of the Kasai canal, as days later she was going to do it in the calm

Teresa Portela

, rewarding a beautiful Olympic race. And, before, very early on, a bike worker like

David Valero

surprises the world on Mount Izu with a heroic comeback that was reminiscent of his mentor

Carlos Coloma's

five years ago in Rio.

and in which he took on a myth like

Nino Schurter

.

Ana Peleteiro, bronze in triple jump, AFP

So are the Games.

The contagious joy of

Ana Peleteiro

and

Ray Zapata

, in their timely anti-racist claim, and the giant emotion of those who listen to the inevitable pronouncement by two brothers who, as

Scariolo

said

, are not the history of Spanish basketball, they are of world sport.

The goodbye of the Gasols in contrast, for example, with the gold in climbing, another unusual discipline and also very conducive to jokes, by

Alberto Ginés

.

The Games that Nadal and Carolina Marín did not attend, the Games in which our classics, sailing and canoeing, accumulated more setbacks than triumphs (the bronze of

Xammar and Nico Rodríguez

and the silver of the K4 avoided the debacle), in which team sports did not fail again (all in the quarter-finals except women's handball and three medals), but neither did they succeed, since we still have no gold since Atlanta 96, it was also the

Alexandrinas'

. There was no press conference via zoom - the face-to-face ones were missed, the pandemic obliges - that was not inaugurated with his speech by the always enthusiastic

Alejandro Blanco

.

Also his image in the circles of the medals in football and handball, among others, drew attention, as a strange element in privacy.

Although for a strange element

Miquel Iceta

, the ineffable new Sports Minister who came almost on the hour to Tokyo, so that the photo with the protagonist of the day would not be missing.

Some great Games yes.

And you can ask what you want about kata.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • Spain Olympics

  • HBPR

Tokyo OlympicsFrom Lisbon to Saitama, the Gasol's farewell and the end of the most incredible history of Spanish basketball

Tokyo GamesAleix Heredia, the rare modern pentathlon, the flight from football for "the environment" and cosmetic surgery

Tokyo GamesAn imaginary rival, three minutes, seven judges and not a failure: this is kata, the form of karate in which Spain sweeps

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