• Deport Saul Craviotto: Policeman, Olympic gold, chef... And standard-bearer
  • Sports Saul Craviotto is, like Rafa Nadal, the perfect boy

Olympic athletes usually wear comfortable clothes to compete or train. However, he wears a chef's jacket like the one he got after his time on the Masterchef Celebrity contest. Saúl Craviotto (Lleida, 1984) is the greatest Spanish Olympic medalist (gold in Beijing 2008, silver in London 2012, gold and bronze in Rio 2016 and silver in Tokyo 2020), tied for metals with the canoeist David Cal. But, in addition to succeeding in sport, he does it in the kitchen. It is therefore not surprising that the Burgo de Arias brand has counted on him as an ambassador for its new line of extra protein products.

You commented that as an athlete you did not know as much about the world of food in its beginnings as now, what knowledge have you acquired over time? It has been a bit in the day to day when I have been learning. In the end everything evolves. On the subject of nutrition, the advice of the professionals I have worked with has let me know things that I did not know or ignored. In addition, I have seen that there are a number of products that help you recover, and I have understood that food is the fuel that the body needs. If you do long-distance aerobic work, the body needs more carbohydrate. If you make power, more protein. Before I ate what I wanted, but in the end it is a matter of common sense, eat healthy and well. I also give myself my tributes, if I fancy a pizza or a hamburger I eat it, I am not one of those who obsesses over food. As you prepare now for your fifth Olympics, what has changed about your sporting routine from Beijing 2008 to Paris 2024? We do three training sessions a day, from Monday to Saturday. Two in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning we make water at half past nine, we have a small break at eleven, then another session and one more in the afternoon. It's a four-year preparation for a test that lasts one minute. What I've changed from Beijing 2008 until now, which has been a lot of years, is that I have less pressure. I went through a moment of great pressure, in which the world expected things from me, and now, in Paris, it is calmer because I have already won five medals, and that they take away the 'bailao'. If I get another one, great, and if not, I'm already happy with what I have. I have reached that level of peace, where I am training at ease. He is preparing for the k4 test. Are there chances that I will participate in any other? Yes, there is the option of doing k2, in another boat with another crew member of the k4. There are four of us, because that's where two k2s come from. In addition, to double is very good, because first is the collective test, we finish and the k2 begins. There is no test in the middle that may tire you. The jewel in the crown is the k4, which we don't want to touch, it's where we're really good, and then, if you can go out and play at another distance, we go out. If you get a metal in Paris you would be the Spanish Olympic athlete who has the most medals, what would this mean for you? It's hard for me to even think about it, because when I started in this my dream was to go to the Olympic Games. Now, to be here talking after being a flag bearer, having won five Olympic medals and going for the sixth is a dream. I do not conceive of it. Sometimes I am not aware of how far we have come. If the sixth arrives it will be brutal. But it will not be easy because the Germans want it, the English too, the best of each country is going and the difference will be by thousandths. I guess the illusion of the first Games is different. The first were the first, that is untouchable and indelible. Everything that lived there was magical, hallucinating with everything. In the following years I already knew what I was going for and in the third even more. In the end you already know all that, it is a competition that is magical equally and makes you excited. However, over the years the illusion becomes a bit like a roller coaster. There have been times when I have thought about retiring. Before going to Rio, andn 2015, I contemplated that possibility. There have been moments of many downturns, not everything is idyllic. You see Saul Craviotto, with five Olympic medals, it seems that it has been a successful race but I have hit every milk, do not see. How do you manage the psychological pressure of competing in the Olympic Games? There are tools for this, such as sports psychologists. I have to admit that I've never been to any, that's how it goes, that's how I am (laughs). I believe that the experience is giving us that plus of calming down. I believe that the secret is to know how to focus the nerves to get your best version. Nerves, if you know how to focus them, are good, but it is very difficult. There is a very thin line and you may get lazy, lose strength, fail. I think experience is what has taught me to control that a little bit, and also to evade myself. I get into a glass bubble, and I do what I can. If they expect something from me, I will give the maximum, and if I do not get it, what am I going to do? Failures have been the best thing that has happened to me, but by far. If I don't fail, I don't have five medals or crazy today. I've always been the best Saul Craviotto after a failure. When you stick the milk you do not see it, you see everything very black and very dark, but looking at it with perspective is the best thing that can happen to all of us. From time to time it is good to hit rock bottom and be able to start from scratch. In Tokyo his family could not accompany him, will they be present in Paris? Buses are going to go there. I have my wife's family and mine looking at hotels. I tell my wife, "Stop looking at hotels that make me nervous." I'm not even qualified and he's already telling me, "Look, I've seen this apartment near the track where you're racing," and they make me pretty nervous. But yes, they are already very excited. Even the neighbors of the urbanization want to go in motorhomes. He's going to put together a good one in Paris because nobody could go to Tokyo, and this one will be more fun. You arrive in Paris at the age of 39, can it be your last Olympic Games? I dare not say it, I am not very clear. I will see when the time comes, there is still a year and a half. I suppose that after the Games I will be on vacation for a month and when I come back I will assess whether I still have illusion or not. I will consider what to do, if I continue one more year and retire in the World Cup or not, but I do not know. Honestly, nature will speak for itself even if I don't want to. It's also nice to know that everything has a beginning and an end. It's a beautiful stage and what I don't want is to stretch the gum and lengthen it. I would like to leave through the front door, and if I see that I do not arrive at the next Games, I will escape as soon as possible. Finally, we have seen Saul Craviotto being the flag bearer of the Olympic Games, winning medals, on television cooking, what is left for us to know about you? Well, little. I'd be lying if I revealed a big surprise here. You know everything about me. I've been doing this for so many years that little can be scratched.

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