Mariano García hangs the gold in the 800 meters of the European Championships in Munich

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Those who know

that on the track he is one and off the track, another.

"I don't understand how he transforms so much," his coach usually says, almost his older brother,

, who has directed his steps since he was 12 years old.

In training at Fuente Álamo, in Murcia, he barely opens his mouth, he goes unnoticed.

He is shy, very shy, and when he is questioned he responds with an easy joke: a diversionary maneuver.

Marian, how are you?

Now stand up.

Mariano, how do you see your next race?

Whoever arrives first will win.

Not even the ones closest to him usually get an extensive conversation out of him.

But when he is in competition...

This Sunday, before the cameras, a showman, pure spectacle.

Going out on the track at the Munich Olympic Stadium in the presentation, the angry face, the motorcycle, its choreography and then, before running, the same thing.

No 800-meter finisher seemed as outgoing, as humorous, as uninhibited.

And so was the race.

And so was his victory.

At the gunshot, as always, García stood behind the group, calm, free, unconcerned;

and at 100 meters he took the lead.

Who can, let it happen to me.

Nobody could.

Not even the British

, recent world champion in the 1,500 meters ahead of

.

The final stretch was an exercise in firmness by García, who never allowed anyone to overtake him: the best position was his.

Victory.

Prayed.

His gold is the reward for an unfair race with a particularly cruel moment: the Tokyo Games.

Last year, when he already had the minimum and the classification, he felt a pain in his belly, discomfort and when testing the diagnosis, appendicitis, forced him to give up the Olympic event.

When he returned, already in September, he was the most motivated athlete in the world.

Nobody in the distance of him did more kilometers, lover in addition to accumulating a lot of volume.

And so it was afterwards.

In the last 'indoor' World Cup in Belgrade, champion.

And in the present European, champion.

His penalty this year, yes, was having caught coronavirus in the spring, which delayed his preparation and knocked him out at the World Cup in Eugene -eliminated in the semifinals-.

It gives so much

At 24, the future is his.

The 2024 Paris Games await you.

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