“How did you end up in this?”
-In my life I had thought to take this step, not even remotely, but when people I respect a lot call you and insist my sense of responsibility tells me that we have to give back to society what they have given us. After much thought, I decided to accept it. It must be said that at home they support me a lot, but they also sigh because they know that this will mean less time for them.
-How did your relationship with triathlon start?
-I have always played sports, all my life, but above all I was a football fan. Then I started with other types of sports, taekwondo for many years, and later practically a little of everything, daily. After being away from Asturias for a long time, when I returned, back in 98 or 99, I met a series of crazy people from the Asturian Center of Oviedo who did something called triathlon. I had never swam, I had not gotten on a bike and run, because having played soccer you can imagine (laughs) … It was not a sport that was limited to my characteristics, but I was hooked.
– What has it contributed?
–It has allowed me to lead a healthy and disciplined life and face sporting challenges that I never thought I could achieve. I have always been a triathlete at the bottom of the classification. But in the world of triathlon there has to be everything, and in that everything there has to be people with excellent competitive abilities, and allow them to develop, and get more and more people to come closer. It’s a very complete sport.
-Where should we broaden the base of practitioners?
– The idea is that the triathlon reaches more and more young people. The usual thing is that people with a route in other disciplines appear in the world of triathlon. And if you go to the tests, especially a few years ago, the average age of the competitors exceeds 30 years.
–The outgoing president, Ángel Fernández, pointed out the lack of schools as one of the handicaps of the triathlon.
– I have had an excellent relationship with Ángel for many years. It is necessary to underline the excellent work he has done these four years, leaving a very healthy Federation, and much of his work must be continued. There are no magic wands with the schools, but our obligation is to observe and analyze what is done here and outside of Asturias, and support. For example, recently I have had the opportunity to be with the people of Marcos Peón’s school to train, above all, young people. It is an interesting initiative that must be valued and the clubs must be supported so that they have their own schools and that they take care of the bases. It is something very laborious and almost thankless for the clubs, and the Federation has to coordinate and provide an adequate framework, which promotes pride of belonging to this sport.
– More projects?
– We should count much more on the presence of women in this sport. In all areas, as an athlete, organizer, assembly and federation. The male presence has always been the majority, and explaining the causes would be daring on my part. Regardless of what has caused it, it is a sport that goes very well for women. Although it is a sport that is done individually, it associates a lot with people. It is a young modality, but I am convinced that it is the sport of the future, if not the present one. Obviously, I don’t compare it to mass sports like soccer or basketball. It is attracting more and more attention, and it is not by chance, that Spain has created so many championships.
– Does the youth of the triathlon make it still green in terms of organization and structure?
– Without a doubt it is a young sport, and that is good for some things and supposes a handicap for others. There is a bit of ground, consolidation, but in general I think that the triathlon situation is going to be very good in this country and I hope it will also be in Asturias. There are more and more teams, unlike when I started, that I was lucky to have the triathlon section of the Asturian Center. And that is a good sign.
– What collaborators do you have?
– There are eleven of us and I have a management team of which I am very proud and with which I feel very safe. I also appreciate the immediate call from the president of Hispaniola, José Hidalgo. I feel supported.
– A recurring complaint of the directors of minority sports federations is the lack of people willing to pitch in in management.
–It is an endemic problem, the lack of participation in federations that do not have a professional profile. It is one of the lines that we want to work on, that of laying solid foundations to begin a progressive professionalization of federative work, so that everything that is done during a mandate has its continuity and that it does not remain at the expense of a group of people, of Altruistically, decide to spend some of your time. That is one of the goals we would like to achieve, although resources are extremely limited. And I do not know if the concept is to be more transparent, but we want to be closer to the federated, informing about things and explaining them.
– Starting in the middle of a pandemic does not seem appropriate.
– One of the things that we will do in the coming weeks is to go to the different administrations that host the usual calendar tests, the regional and municipal ones, and see a little what the expectations are. The absolutely exceptional situation we are experiencing is obvious, but I think it is important to exhaust any possibility to develop sporting events. Not only because it is important for people who carry them out with great effort, but also because we also have young people who, without sports events, may not get enough motivation to have a recurring and healthy sports life. It is not a minor issue.
– Do you see the risk that young people abandon sport?
-One, who is already a veteran, can continue with certain habits, but when you are in full adolescence or youth this is very difficult. There is a risk that those who move between 14 and 18 years old get carried away by not having competitions. We, as representatives of the sport, are going to exhaust all the possibilities that exist to have a reasonable schedule.
– Do you understand the measures that the authorities have taken with the sport?
– I am lenient when it comes to evaluating all the restrictive measures that are being adopted, because public leaders are facing something they do not know. It would take a certain patience. It is true that there are measures that may not be understood very well, that have been adopted and then stopped, a kind of trial and error. But society has to understand that the leaders, not only ours, but the world leaders, face something that we do not know. Within the board of directors we have a person who is a doctor, Alfredo Fernández San Martín, who is going to help us. He is going to find the safest way to celebrate the tests, because we don’t want the celebration at any price.
– That it is an outdoor sport benefits them, right?
–It is true that triathlon, being outdoors, individual classification and with experiences of outings against the clock, can come out well in that sense. However, in school sports, where it is about promoting bubbles and avoiding transfers between municipalities, it penalizes us. We have to get the triathlon to be in the School Games.
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