Both have worked piecemeal during these five years with a single goal between eyebrows: the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Yes, the gold one, neither the silver nor the bronze one. They wanted to win and they were ready for it. But suddenly, two months after the great Olympic event, everything turns dark, black, comes the greatest disappointment, what seems impossible, the most undeserved thing stirs them up and ends with a stroke of the pen with all the illusions, hopes, projects, objectives and the dream vanishes. They cry of helplessness. They wonder why me, why me, but there is no going back. They will not be able to be in Tokyo 2020. Carolina Marín and Jesús Tortosa will watch the Olympic Games on TVAt home, sheltered by their families, they will not lack comfort, but they will not be in these Games that they have been thinking about for more than 1,800 days.
They are two totally different cases from each other. Nothing to see. Carolina Marín suffered an injury with the cruciate ligament and the two menisci of the affected left knee; Jesús Tortosa was ruled out by the Spanish Taekwondo Federation. Two fat clubs for two top athletes.
It has been a few days since they learned that they will not be able to play the Games, they are digesting it, but it is still painful for both of them not to be able to fight for that medal they have wanted so much.
OLYMPIC SERIES
So much Carolina like Jesus were part of our Olympic series. They both attended us at the CAR in Madrid and told us about their imperial desire to face the long-awaited Games: “Every day I seek to continue growing as an athlete and that ambition is still there. One of the objectives is to be one of the best players in history “, explained the badminton player aware that “It is an ambitious goal but not impossible, that’s why it is there”. To achieve this, he explained to us that he would have to win another Olympic gold after the one achieved in Rio and a more minimal World Cup. For now, the Olympic gold will have to wait three more years, until Paris 2024, when Carolina will be 31 years old.
The taekwondist Jesus Crookedhe was, a priori, the number one candidate to occupy the position in the -58 kilos category. Not in vain had he achieved the place in 2020 and is the Spanish taekwondo player with the best ranking. But in a surprising decision, the federation left him out. Before knowing it, the taekwondo player explained that “The goal is the gold medal and I think this time I am much more prepared. An Olympic cycle has passed where I have shown that I am among the best ”, he assured. Hopefully in Paris 2024 he will succeed.
Difficult to gauge disappointments
Carolina Marin I was training on May 28 like every day at the CAR in Madrid and suddenly some discomfort in my knee set off all the alarms. The tests confirmed an injury to the cruciate ligament and the two affected left knee menisci that forced him to undergo surgery. It was one of the most difficult moments of her career, but the Andalusian player is already recovering from the operation and thinking about new goals. “Since I found out that I couldn’t go to Tokyo, Paris 2024 hasn’t gotten out of my head.“Carolina assured a few days after the operation.
Undoubtedly, the badminton player thinks positively since it is the only way to lift her head after the hard stick that caused her injury when the Games were about to play: “The next day you get up and inside the black hole you are in, you think in the following Games, which are three years away. Within the bad you try to find something positive ”. This is the philosophy of a champion who these days has not stopped showing her progress on social networks and who is already looking forward to returning to full performance thinking about the Parisian Olympic event. “I am aware that I must go step by step”, but he acknowledges his anxiety to return to the court to give it his all with the racket and the shuttlecock.
It will be the shortest Olympic cycle in history, something that at her age will benefit her to achieve the dream of being the best in history.
Jesús Tortosa, during the report we made for the Olympic series
| VALENTÍ ENRICH
When everyone took it for granted Jesus Tortosa would represent Spain in the -58 category in taekwondo, the surprise jumped on the federation list. The body, which is the one who decides the representatives for the Games, elected Adrian Vicente to occupy the ticket of this category. Tortosa, indignant, sad, dejected and above all feeling a lot of anger and indignation, he did not understand anything: “I have no explanation for this that just happened”, he said at the time. “I have felt cheated all this time, believing that I would go to the Games and fulfill my dream,” he said.
The taekwondo player always thought that the decision of the federation went beyond a sporting issue since his father had legal proceedings against the federation and in the elections he supported the opposition candidate for the current president, Jesus Castellanos. From the federation they assure that the reason is that in 2020 Adrián Vicente has obtained better results than Jesús, who was stopped due to COVID-19, but the Madrid, who does not hesitate to encourage his partner in the face of the Games, does not create this version. He took it to court but the judge rejected the appeal. Ran out of Games. “I have not managed to change the unfair decision to take away the Olympic place that I got myself with my four-year work finishing within the Top-5 in the world, “he lamented after hearing the judge’s decision.
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