Ana Peleteiro, Ray Zapata, Fátima Gálvez … Who are the Spanish medalists in Tokyo

Spain faces the ambitious challenge of overcoming the 22 medals obtained in Barcelona 92 ​​in Tokyo 2020. At the moment, it has seven: the gold achieved by Alberto Fernandez Y Fatima Galvez in mixed team shooting; the silvers of Ray Zapata in artistic gymnastics, Maialen Chourraut in whitewater and Adriana Cerezo in taekwondo; and the bronzes of Ana Peleteiro in triple jump, Pablo Carreño in tennis and David valero on a mountain bike. The other side of the coin is the options that have fallen by the wayside. Neither Nikoloz Sherazadishvili has ended the judo drought, nor does Lydia Valentín have options in the +87 kg category.

There are still many other possibilities for the Spanish delegation. Spain is still alive in football, basketball, water polo, handball and hockey. In addition, the sail has up to five podium options, but it will be necessary to wait until the wind returns to resume racing. There is also hope in karate, the K4 500 modality of canoeing, in which the standard-bearer, Saúl Craviotto, participates; and, of course, the races of the Spanish record holder of 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000, Mohamed Katir.

If these athletes meet the forecasts or a new surprise is added, their names will go down in history, along with those of those who already form the Spanish honors so far in the competition:

Adriana Cerezo – silver in taekwondo (-49kg)

At 17 years old, Adriana Cerezo (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, 2003) got the first medal for Spain, after falling in the final of taekwondo in the -49 kilos category. The draw gave him a complicated path. In the round of 16, she faced world number two, Tijana Bogdanovic, whom she beat 12-4. In the quarterfinals another legend awaited her, the Chinese Wu Jinguy, who achieved two consecutive Olympic golds (in Beijing and London), but was not a match for her either, by endorsing a resounding 32-2. More suffered was the semifinal against Turkey’s Rukye Yildrim, who ended up winning 39-19 in the third round.

His last fight was very close. Against the Thai Panipak Wongpattanaki, world number one, Cerezo hit first and finished with a two-round advantage in the first round. The Spanish held on for much of the second, until her rival landed a blow that made her go into the break with 9-6. Adriana sought, at all costs, the comeback in the third and final round, but came out losing in an exchange of kicks that led to the final 11-10. He leaves Tokyo with a silver that tastes like gold.

David Valero – bronze in mountain biking

The bronze of David valero (Baza, Granada, 1988) in mountain biking he did not enter the pools, nor was that of his mentor, Carlos Coloma, in Rio 2016. Spain’s second medal came after a epic comeback. Valero started far behind, in 35th place, but got to have the best pace of the entire race, which earned him to hunt down his rivals one by one to sneak onto the podium.

With the fall of the big favorite, the Belgian Mathieu Van der Poel, the title was assured for the Briton Thomas Pidcock, who had escaped on the fifth lap. It was at that point that Valero reached the height of the small group that was going to play the other two medals and managed to snatch third place from the Swiss Nino Schurter – once an Olympic champion and eight times in the world – by just eight seconds. Until these Tokyo Games, Valero had only made two international podiums: in 2017 he was second in the Nove Mesto World Cup (Czech Republic) and the following year, third in the Glasgow European Championship.

Maialen Chourraut – silver in whitewater (K1)

Maialen Chourraut (San Sebastián, 1983) was one of the great favorites to come from Tokyo with a metal hanging from the neck and has not disappointed. The Gipuzkoan had entered the K1 final in whitewater with the seventh best time. Given that his main rivals had posted times well below 109.92, Chorraut knew he had to improve his performance if he was to have a chance to fight for the medals. In the final test, the fourth came out and he had to wait until the performance of the six best in the semifinal.

It did not have a descent as clean as the one in Rio, but he knew how to remake himself in the second half of the journey and finished without any penalty. She placed first with a time of 106.63, which could only be overcome by the powerful German Ricarda Funk, whose timer stopped at 105.50. The failure of the Slovak Eliska Mintalova (108.36) secured the podium for the Spanish and the irregular descent of Jessica Fox, with a four-second penalty, placed her in second place that completes an exceptional Olympic cycle. In addition to the silver from Tokyo, the Basque paddler has a gold obtained in 2016 and a bronze obtained in London 2012.

Alberto Fernández and Fátima Gálvez – gold in Olympic shooting

Alberto Fernández (Madrid, 1983) and Fátima Gálvez (Baena, Córdoba, 1987) gave the first gold medal to Spain. It was last Saturday in the final of the Olympic mixed team shooting pit, by beating (41-40) the San Marino couple. The Madrilenian and the Andalusian had already secured the metal after reaching the final brilliantly, but to climb to the top of the box they had to beat Alessandra Perilli and Gian Marco Berti in an even round. Gálvez missed the first three dishes. For its part, Fernández was a life insurance. After a 75 of 75 in qualifying, he missed only one plate of his 25 in the fight for gold.

In the San Marino couple, Berti was the one who left the most failures, while Perilli, an individual bronze, pulled the car. With three plates to go, Gálvez gave up the lead Spain had, but Berti again gave the lead to the Spanish afterwards. The Andalusian had the shot of the sentence, but left those of San Marino alive. Following the instructions of the rival coach to his shooter, he failed again, leaving the gold for Spain after a glorious morning at the Asaka Shooting Range. Fernández and Gálvez’s medal is the first for Spain in this sport in 17 years. Before them were Ángel León (silver in the 50-meter pistol in Helsinki 52), Jorge Guardiola (bronze in the Olympic pit in Seoul 88) and María Quintanal (silver in the Olympic pit in Athens 04).

Pablo Carreño – bronze in tennis

Pablo Carreño (Gijón, 1991) could not be in the Olympic final after falling in the semifinals against Russian Khachanov, but got a bronze that tastes like gold after defeating world number one Novak Djokovic in the match for third place. It was a duel of the titans of almost three hours, which ended at 6-4. 6-7 (6) and 6-3 after an epic outcome. Powerless in the face of the solidity and aggressiveness of Carreño, who was very effective at serving, the Serbian tennis player smashed a racket against the net post and threw another into the stands. The Olympic laurel was long overdue. With 5-3 and service, Carreño had to resort to several direct points and recover his best version until the sixth match point.

Carreño added, thus, the thirteenth medal for Spanish tennis At the olympic games. Since the sport returned to the Olympic program, in Seoul 1988, the ‘Armada’ has achieved two golds – those of Rafa Nadal in Beijing 2008 and that of Nadal and Marc López in doubles in Rio de Janeiro 2016 -, seven silvers and four bronzes . There are three other medalists who do not count as such, since tennis was considered an exhibition in its time. This is the case of the gold achieved by Manolo Santana in Mexico 1968; as well as the silvers of Manuel Orantes and Santana himself with Juan Gisbert in doubles.

Ray Zapata – silver in artistic gymnastics (ground)

Another medal that also tastes like gold is the silver of the gymnast Rayderley Zapata (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1993), who got the same score in the floor final of artistic gymnastics than the winner, the Israeli Artem Dolgoypat, but he performed a more difficult exercise (6.6 versus 6.5). Ray did not do his most risky exercise, the ‘Zapata II’, but opted for a safer version and nailed all his jumps. The second came out and stayed in the lead after his exercise. Immediately afterwards, it was the turn of Dolgoypat, whose execution was cataloged by the judges with identical figures. He took first place because he chose a higher difficulty, even if it was barely a tenth. None of the four remaining gymnasts could beat them.

The medal of Zapata, whose recent paternity had given him the extra he needed to assault the Olympic podium, is added to the record he inaugurated Gervasio Deferr 21 years ago. Deferr achieved three metals between Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 (double gold and silver on the ground). To these, is added the bronze that he obtained Patricia moreno in the 2004 Athens soil exercise.

Ana Peleteiro – bronze in triple jump

Ana Peleteiro (Riveira, A Coruña, 1995) has brought the seventh medal for Spain in the Olympic event, the first in athletics. The gold in the triple jump final had a name before the test began: Yulimar Rojas. And the Venezuelan jumper was not satisfied with fulfilling the forecasts, but also broke the world record with her 15.67 meter jump. The silver, which went to the Portuguese Patricia Mamona, was also very expensive, as the Portuguese athlete left her mark at 15.01 meters.

Peleteiro jumped better than ever to win bronze. On Sunday night (Spanish morning), achieved two successive Spanish records, when reaching 14.77 meters, first; and at 14.87, later. In this way, she becomes the third Spanish woman to win a medal in athletics at the Olympic Games, after María Vasco’s bronze in the 20 km march in Sydney 2000 and Ruth Beitia’s gold in the high jump in Rio 2016.