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“My dad is only worried about getting hit”

You are very similar to the girl who does judo ”, says the patient. She does not believe him and although they show her the name on the gown, she insists: “You are similar and you even have the same name, but apart from that, you are a doctor.” Yes, Paula Pareto, the only female individual Olympic gold medalist, divided her preparation time for the Games, between her profession as a traumatologist, training, travel … With that passion for judo that excites you. Without divisms and without turns at the age of 35, he joins the celebrations for 25 years of Olé 45 days from Tokyo 2021.

-Does it happen to you often that they recognize you in the clinic despite attending all covered, with masks, chinstraps?

-Do you know when they recognize me? When I speak. From the voice, I can’t believe it. You can see that I have a very particular voice, not to say a whistle, ha.

-How long are your days?

-And, they are quite complete. Passion is what motivates me to continue being well complete. Go to the hospital, go to training, have some extra work commitment and come home at ten at night to start again at 6 in the morning. All that is maintained by the passion that one feels. Do the things that one likes. That’s why I’m sick of having them busy doing what you like.

-How did you keep the consistency of training with isolation?

-I had stipulated hours that were training. I didn’t change it for anything. He set me meal times, and practices. And then I had the daily challenge of every day to do something different even though I was at home.

-But you do very playful things. Some wanted to copy you and …

-Yes, someone told me that he hit himself, ha. I broke my nose too! But I kept trying even if it put my head, my teeth, my nose at risk, as more than one told me. But the idea was to improve myself in the day to day to pass the quarantine in a more pleasant way. I only went out to go to the hospital and at home I wanted to have something different to do. If it served for people to try, welcome.

– And between all the training, how do you experience working in health?

– Quite complicated but now we are used to it. We cannot lower our arms because the new waves appear, the new strains, the increase in therapy beds. Again more alert than before. As my coach says, I have been dodging bullets and I did not catch it. Being a health staff, I already had the vaccine and within everything, I am more protected.

Paula and her workouts at her home.

-When did judo stop being a hobby?

-They told me ‘you are a high-performance athlete’ and I said no, that I did it because I liked it. Until the time I qualified for the Olympics and didn’t even have a sports scholarship. It was at the Rio World Cup in 2007 when I qualified for Beijing. ‘Oops, I’m already qualified for a Game. It’s not so much a hobby! ‘ I continued training in the best way, with the same mentality and the medal was awarded in Beijing. From then on it was never a hobby, I already had another type of responsibility.

Before Beijing 2008, I lost the bronze medal in a tournament and I said to myself: ‘I’m coming back from the Games and I don’t do judo anymore.’

-You had your “Gaudio moments” in which you yelled ‘what am I doing here?’

-Yes, I was losing and I wanted to leave everything. The last tournament before going to Beijing I did two tournaments in Europe. I remember in one I won two fights and lost the bronze one. I said to myself: ‘That’s it, when I come back from the Games, I won’t do any more judo.’ I didn’t like losing anything. Or said I was retiring. ‘I lost with this one that didn’t win anything.’ I self-restricted and cried a lot. I was surprised that I was doing very well. After Beijing, it was difficult for me to start internationally. Until I learned that losing is similar to winning. You have to learn much more from defeats than from victories. Bronca continues to give me, but I take it as an apprenticeship.

-How much did it help you that part of your preparation was with a psychologist?

– I think that in a sport like judo, 80, 85% is psychological. I work with one (NdeR: Gustavo Ruiz) since 2006. It is not always the best who wins, but the one who is best prepared in that competition from the mental point of view. And thanks to that I know that he can give anything and I take it better. In fact, I have beaten people that on paper I could never beat them. And yet you can. I have shown it to myself and I have seen it in other judo players and competitors. I’m not the best, but I can beat anyone.

Pareto with Sabatini when they shared a judo clinic.

Pareto with Sabatini when they shared a judo clinic.

-Does this Paula beat the one in Beijing?

-Without a doubt, clearly. It has a much larger technical and diverse arsenal. In Beijing I had a hard time scoring. Do scoring techniques. She won because they sanctioned the other or because she was going forward but did not make the technique effective. He ended up winning by points difference because he wanted to win. No more. Today I have many competitions in which I can shoot. In Beijing, it didn’t happen. There is a very visible evolution.

-You didn’t change that style of always going forward.

-I’m true to my style, I always go forward. I have lost many times because of what is called a “false attack”: because you attack and remain on the floor without moving the other. And they asked me: “Don’t you want to stop doing it?” And no, because I want to fight, make the casts and keep going forward. Obviously I don’t want to be wrong. I want to do judo, I want to win with lance and technique. If I stay still, I feel like I’m betraying myself. Everyone has their strategy. My style is that and I want to continue like this. My dad says that “he who does, sometimes sends some snot”.

La Peque trains like this at home.

La Peque trains like this at home.

– Exactly speaking of your family, the judo did not convince them much by the goals that you received.

-They gave up, ha. My grandmother, whenever she came back with a hit from training, said to me: “I told you to stop doing that sport, they always hit you”. Well today we are talking and I have a black eye! It is a contact sport. Sometimes there are more complicated injuries like cervical spine surgery that I had to do. My dad still worries about injuries. Every time I finish competing he asks me if I hit myself or not. If I won or came out last, no. The messages always get to me and you can’t believe it. I was first, everyone says congratulations and my dad: “Pauli, how are you? Does something hurt? ” The only thing he cares about and worries about is if they hit me. And I like that. It’s like the role of my dad.

-There were few girls in judo, it will not have been easy to go through it. He even wore a T-shirt that …

Paula Pareto is a traumatologist.

Paula Pareto is a traumatologist.

Everyone says congratulations and my dad: “Pauli, how are you? Does something hurt? ” The only thing he cares about and worries about is if they hit me.

-Yes, they sold a T-shirt, incredible. When I went to the national tournaments as a girl, the boys wore one that said: “Girls do hockey, boys do rugby, men do judo.” I was very funny, it seemed like anyone. But it was the shirt that everyone had. Many friends today have it and I tell them: ‘Che, that shirt is anything’. It was the wave that doing judo was for men. It was the society of those times: now there is a long way to go with respect to equality, but before it was much more treacherous. They have even told me that “you can’t train here because this is a men’s training camp.” But I had friends and colleagues who helped me and spoke for me. The one who said that was shut up in two seconds. “Shut up, I got out of here.” To train. Instead of getting the bad out of it, I got the positive out of it and I had no major problems.

Paula and her gold medal in Rio 2016.

Paula and her gold medal in Rio 2016.

-With the agenda you have, there was no place to continue playing football.

-The truth is that he had not left. But in the pandemic I opened up a little bit. I isolated myself from as many things as possible through travel. I can not risk.

-Are you a good soccer player?

-I don’t know if it’s good. Forever forward. It ran everywhere. In any sports field, it is always annoying.

-The one you bothered was Gaby Sabatini! You had her on the floor.

-I never want to shoot, but they insist, so … With someone bigger is more complicated. But he thinks I did judo with Bonadeo. So with Gaby it was much calmer. You handle it well enough to deposit it on the floor and not to throw it hard. But, beware that Gabriela has a lot of ease, she grabbed everything at the touch. It cost me a lot, but things worked out for her right away. I congratulated her, you can tell she has a knack for sports.

-You will admire Sabatini and many more. But your reference is not so well known.

-When they ask me about an idol I always choose Lorena Briceño. It is a reference for me and for many of the girls. Because he made a lot of effort and had many complications to qualify for the Games. They put a thousand obstacles in the way and not because he lacked technique or tactics, but because of political issues. And she went to Beijing and I had the chance to go with her. He taught me to fight her and fight her.

-Where do you keep the medals?

-In my house I have nothing. My mom and dad have them but I don’t let them show them. Some of the Olympias put them in because they are big. They are sporting achievements and it stays there. Whoever comes to my house does not have to come in and see my medals. I do not like it.

-Even if you don’t like showing them, you have two Olympians. A third in Tokyo?

-I’m going to do my best. The result is anecdote. I don’t think I’m the best but I know I can beat anyone. You have to give 100% and value the effort of so many years. Not only the staff, that of a whole work group, family and friends who always bank you. You can hope to win the medal.

And if the Olympic champion traumatologist who always goes forward has hope …

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