Lucas Sáez-Bravo Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-01:48

  • Athletics The incredible Señor Paco, the tireless 87-year-old athlete

«Fuck dad, but why am I going to go blind? Yes, I am a good person.

Jota

's "fade to black"

, as he himself calls it, was a total fade. A 28-year-old boy who didn't want to get out of bed. In a cruel and gradual process he had been losing his sight, until in 2011 everything went out, finally his right eye. And the vital illusion of a boy from Buitrago del Lozoya who suddenly faced what he had tried so hard to avoid: "And what am I going to do without seeing?"

13 years later,

José Luis García Serrano

is an elite athlete. He is also the father of two sons,

Roque, two years old, and Lucas

, one, who already know that things have to be brought into Dad's hands and you have to always tell him: "I'm here." He is

Gloria

's husband

, he is a physiotherapist in his clinic in Chamartín in the afternoons and he is a physically bull who seeks, together with his guide

Diego Méntrida

, his first Paralympic medal in what will be his second Games. All that is Jota, that 28-year-old boy who lost his sight, gained up to 110 kilos and didn't want to get out of bed. He suffered and made people suffer, until he said enough and took on the unexpected, a sport, triathlon, that until then no blind person had practiced in Spain.

Jota and Diego advance as a unit along the slopes of the Madrid High Performance Center. They come from the pool and are grateful for the unusual spring sun in January. García Serrano's left hand rests on the right shoulder of Méntrida - that boy to whom

Will Smith

surrendered four years ago when he let his rival, who had made a mistake in the last corner of the Santander triathlon, regain his position in the goal-. "Step here."

These routine difficulties must be brought to the three disciplines of the triathlon, to swimming together in open water, to transitions, to pedaling in the tandem and, finally, to running tied by a rope. All with pulses at a thousand, because they compete in the sprint distance. «We have everything mechanized. We train very specifically so that it comes out fluidly. The transitions, for example: we get out of the water and we both have to take off our wetsuit, put it in a box so you don't get penalized, put on your helmet, your goggles... It comes out alone. The race in which you have to talk more is because it has not gone perfectly," explains Méntrida of the "greatest sporting challenge" of his career, who joined Jota in December 2022; They previously knew each other from their time together at

Ecosport de Alcobendas

. Despite the age difference, they are almost life partners.

Jota and Diego, at the CAR in Madrid.JAVI MARTINEZMUNDO

Jota talks about “feeling”. «There are blind athletes who do not think the same, but for me the guide is an extension of me. It is vital that he feels comfortable and a protagonist, that he makes decisions, that he is involved. Let this be a two-way thing. There is another, more professional way of looking at it, the guide fulfills his role and goes to his house. That doesn't suit me," he details. «I'm going to see the Games, or Australia next month, or Blume today, through Diego's eyes. I am lucky to have known him for a long time, I knew he was a winning bet. As a triathlete, I can say little more. But as a kid he is a 10. If I had to say what I want my son to be like in 25 years, he would be a Diego Méntrida. He knows about triathlon, but also about life. I know that with him the path will be worth it.

How did you lose your sight? When I was seven years old I was diagnosed with an illness. That it was not so serious as to reach the limit of going completely blind, as was my case. As a child I had the typical problems in class, I couldn't see well, I had to go to the blackboard, I went from ophthalmologist to ophthalmologist, from glasses to glasses, but I continued to see poorly. That

uveitis

led to cataracts in both eyes. Until I was 14 or so I saw very little. Then they operated on me and I started watching in Full HD. I had a somewhat quiet time, with outbreaks and revisions. At 21 I started to have very complicated symptoms in my left eye and at 23 I lost it. And then, they were repeated on the right with 28. Until I completely lost my sight. The mental process of going blind little by little did not have to be easy. A curious thing happened to me. When I could no longer see out of my left eye, I would try to wink with my right eye and not see anything. It was somewhat traumatic, the first step to being blind. He told me: 'I can't go blind, it's impossible.' It was something unthinkable. I wasn't able to put myself in the situation, I didn't accept it.

Jota García Serrano.JAVI MARTINEZMUNDO

He began to study Optics and Optometry. I was curious to see what the professional saw. Enjoyment. People still ask me why I don't try to be an optician. 'Man, a blind optometrist, he has bad marketing. He's screwed things up' (he laughs). One day, in a class, we gave some notes and I saw it white and in a bottle. That day I knew he was going to blind me. Because what the teacher said was exactly what was happening to me. And that ended in him going blind. I left crying. I called my mother and he was very screwed. Going blind is... You are seeing right now and you say, 'but how can I go blind?' I have asked myself a thousand times: 'What am I going to do without seeing?' Without seeing you can't do anything, everything we do in our daily lives is related to the visual. Until he falls in love. What happens when he permanently loses his vision? He was screwed. I had many days stuck in bed, not wanting to get out, shitting on everything. The other day my father reminded me of a day when he cried and screamed 'Why me, why me?! Yes, I am a good person!' But it is worse to hurt others than to look bad. When you realize that your mood affects those around you, you think you have to do something. The only thing about my story that is an American movie is that. The rest is

Santiago Segura

. Santiago Segura was the triathlon. When I was going blind, I had a small temporary window of vision of 15 days, just when the first half triathlon took place in my town, Buitrago. The Ecotrimad, in 2011. Two of my friends competed, I saw them get out of the water with their wetsuits. I loved. I knew what triathlon was, because one day I arrived from a party at 3 in the morning and the Ironman in Hawaii was on television. I said, 'they're like a cowbell.' It caught my attention. I was so amazed that my father bought me a road bike, which I practically never used, because I soon went blind. He was screwed at home and visualized me doing triathlons, swimming. I imagined myself with a cork from buoy to buoy, the bike with the tandem... I watched my movies, because there was no one in Spain who did triathlon without seeing absolutely nothing. How did it start? In 2013,

Enhamed Enhamed

, the Paralympic swimmer , did the Lanzarote Ironman. I had already called the Federation to say that I wanted to do a triathlon. That day they didn't even know where to start. They transferred me to Ecosport,

Ángel Aguado

's Alcobendas club

. Diego started a year later. That is our link. He was 14 years old.

García Serrano and Méntrida.JAVI MARTINEZMUNDO

Has sport saved you? Triathlon has given me everything. I started with so much desire and enthusiasm that, even though there were so many barriers, from finding a tandem to the guide, taking me to train... Yes, it has been my lifeline.

Then, Jota got out of bed - in 2007 he also suffered a serious traffic accident in which he almost lost his right arm - and plugged into life. He began his physiotherapy studies at ONCE and, a couple of years later, he debuted where his mind had taken him so many times, to the Puentes Viejas reservoir, to the Lozoya River in his town, where he had last seen time. «It was very special, because I did it with a close friend of mine,

Fran (Nieva)

, as a guide. And with all my family there. Now the one who was in that photo that he remembered was me. It was very exciting. I have been in some Games, in World Series, but that debut... there is nothing like it.

Jota and Diego form the

Jota Blind Team (with

Iván Álvarez

's training plan

). They plan their trip to Tasmania in a few weeks, where they can now close the Olympic qualification. Among many other achievements, Jota is European champion, was seventh in Tokyo, has traveled halfway around the world and never stops dreaming big. "I have done things that I would never have done seeing." But not so long ago, Jota was a hopeless kid.

It has become an example of improvement. We all have small stories of improvement that can help us. We should listen to each other more. The focus is on me, because I am blind. My story can be very motivating, but if the people who read this interview are not positive... This is going to be empirical, trial and error. But from the most banal thing, from changing jobs or hours, to something more complicated like losing your sight. Friends came to me to make plans and I said: 'If I don't see, why am I going out?' And by trying things... One day I went to the opera and it was amazing, but I didn't like it. Trial-error. That's the advice I would give. And don't stay standing at home: spending a lot of time thinking is toxic. What is the barrier that is most difficult for you to overcome in your daily life? Triathlon has become my way of life. And I don't see it as difficult. But if I tell you that to get on the trainer I have to tell my wife to put on the Garmin, to put on the bike, that it locks up, that it doesn't get the signal... There are many complicated things. Those challenges keep me plugged in. In fact, I know that when this stage is over I'm going to miss it. Because it is very stimulating. What is your relationship with your children like? They are still small, they are not aware that their father cannot see. But they do a lot of things automatically. What they want to give me is brought directly to my hand. I taught them that every time I ask them, they have to tell me where they are. The other day a friend of hers asked me: 'What's wrong with your eyes? They scare me.' I started playing with her and after five minutes she was no longer afraid. 'You seem like a good friend to me,' she told me later. With children everything is easy, natural