same medals, but with less shine

Special Envoy to Tokyo

Updated:08/08/2021 17:57h

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Finished the Tokyo GamesThose that one day were about to not be celebrated because of the pandemic, you can see the glass half full or half empty. It is true that Spain maintains its harvest of medals – the same as in Rio and only one less than those achieved in London 2012 – but has remained with only three golds, the worst figure since sport was transformed in Spain coinciding with the Barcelona Games. Only three Olympic champions, far from the thirteen in the 1992 event and the seven that took place five years ago in Rio, which have brought Spain down in the medal table, where it has occupied the twenty-second place final. Figures that could have increased had they not suffered the unexpected casualties of Carolina Marín or Rafa Nadal before traveling, or those of Jon Rahm and Orlando Ortega already about to begin their participation in Tokyo.

Sandra Sánchez: Gold in karate

Gold in kata in an ephemeral sport

It was one of the safest metals and Sandra Sánchez did not fail. First Olympic champion of a sport that premiered in Tokyo and will not return to the Olympic program in Paris. The talaverana competed in a sport of Japanese origin and won her medal at the Nippon Budokan, the temple of martial arts. An unforgettable memory with a bitter aftertaste for that elimination of karate for Paris 2024, which will leave the Spanish with the honor of being the only one with an Olympic gold.

F. Gálvez and A. Fernández: Gold in Olympic shooting

At last a joy for the national moat

Both Fátima Gálvez and Alberto Fernández had been behind this metal for many years. In the end they have achieved it in the modality of Olympic pit teams, which makes it even more special. It was the first gold of the Spanish delegation and his example had a very positive effect on the town, where many other athletes saw in his achievement an inspiration to face their competitions. After years of joys in the World Cups, this medal crowns a magnificent career for both of them and charges them with reasons to think positively ahead of Paris 2024.

Alberto Ginés López: Gold in climbing

Olympic champion in a new discipline

The Olympic Committee has launched several of these new sports in Tokyo that it wants to introduce at the Games to attract young audiences. Skate, surf, 3X3 basketball … and climbing. The latter sport in which Spain has shown that it has the ability to shine also in these new modalities. The Extremaduran Ginés López, only 18 years old, was proclaimed the first Olympic climbing champion and his achievement has already hooked thousands of young people. An example and a mirror to look at for the new generations of this sport.

Teresa Portela: Silver in canoeing

First medal after six Olympic Games

The one to follows her, get her. Teresa Portela never lowered her arms, not even when she was fourth in London a few feet from the podium. The Galician continued working, training away from the spotlight and fighting to enter the Games. The sixths for her, the Spanish woman with the most participations whose great joy reached her at 39 years of age. Silver in the Sea Forest channel that is now forever part of his vital journey. Medal that rewards an exemplary career. So much so that it was perhaps the most celebrated in the town, where Teri is one of the most beloved athletes among Spanish athletes.

Maialen Chourraut: Silver in canoeing

The silver that was missing from your collection

At 38 years old and with two Olympic medals in the showcase at home, he no longer had anything to prove to anyone. Not even herself. That is why Chourraut’s persistence and his struggle to be in Tokyo 2020 has even more value. As he acknowledged after having made an almost perfect descent in the Kasai whitewater channel, the absence of pressure had benefited him. Thus, he achieved his third Olympic medal, the silver that was missing from his collection after the bronze in London 2012 and the gold in Rio 2016.

Adriana Cerezo: Silver in taekwondo

The medal that opened the account of Spain

It was the first day of competition and she is 17 years old, but none of that weighed on Adriana Cerezo, all joy and cheek on the tatami. He planted himself in the final with unusual ease and there he brushed against the gold, which escaped him with only three seconds left. Far from settling for a silver in his first Games, Cerezo was crying ambitiously. He had been very close. As the days went by, seeing how difficult it is to get on the podium, he gave more value to the medal, which is already at his grandmother’s house, as was his wish before leaving Spain.

Rayderley Zapata: Silver in artistic gymnastics

Brilliant exercise, still sigh of gold

After his disappointment in Rio, where he did not even get into the final, Ray Zapata arrived in Tokyo ready to eat the ground if necessary. He did not have to go that far, as his exercise was so brilliant that he achieved the best score of all gymnasts. The same as that of the Israeli Dolgopyat, who was gold for having carried out a more complicated exercise. The money hurt a lot at the beginning for the Spaniard, who did not understand why, having executed the routine better, they gave the gold to their rival. Then he ended up accepting that difficulty rules and he valued more money with which he would have been happy five years ago.

Damián Quintero: Silver in karate

Shine in the country where karate was born

Damián Quintero’s smile, the one that only disappears when he enters the tatami, multiplied by a thousand when he took the podium to celebrate his Olympic silver. It was impossible to beat the Japanese Kiyuna, who played at home, but the Spaniard knew how to value this metal, which is the first for male karate in some Games. First and last, at least for now, until the IOC decides that he will return to the Olympic program, from which he will leave in Paris.

K4 500 Team: Silver in Canoeing

The most difficult medal for Saúl Craviotto

There have been so many obstacles in the Olympic cycle for the K4 team that the silver they won in the Olympic final tastes like gold. The pandemic especially hit the members of the group, who then saw how the selection process was questioned. Strokes that brought them closer together in their day-to-day lives and that led to immense joy in Tokyo. It is the fifth medal for Craviotto, the captain, who equates David Cal as the Olympian with the most metals and who, if nothing goes wrong, will aspire to exceed that figure in three years in Paris 2024.

Women’s team: Silver in water polo

Back on the podium nine years later

Again at the gates of gold and again against the United States. Spain will have to wait to make its golden dream come true, because again the Americans were better in the Olympic final. In any case, this silver knows very well, which comes nine years after the podium in London and which has also been achieved in full renovation of the dressing room, with very young players (such as Elena Ruiz, 16 years old) being important during the tournament . The best news to look to the future.

Men’s national team: Silver in soccer

The saddest overtime in Spanish football

It had been twenty-one years since the soccer team had been on an Olympic podium. Curse that the team led by Luis de la Fuente in Tokyo has broken in Tokyo. There he could not climb to the top. He missed the gold in a final with extra time that Brazil took. Even so, it is an immense achievement that confirms the good summer of Spanish football. There are wickers to dream big again.

Pablo Carreño: Bronze in tennis

Medal knocking down the biggest rival

Pablo Carreño arrived so calm to the final, stripped of the pressure to face the number one in the world, that he got the game of his life. The best Carreño at the most opportune moment. The Spaniard unhinged an unknown Djokovic, who had come from a marathon the day before and who paid him off in the fight for bronze.

Ana Peleteiro: Bronze in athletics

A leap of madness

Ana Peleteiro’s tears after taking bronze in the triple jump final reflected the work of many years. She, who at one point was lost and who returned to the charge of the hand of Iván Pedroso to reach the Olympic podium. Alegría, which is the only one in the tartan for Spain, where Eusebio Cáceres, María Pérez, Álvaro Martín and Marc Tur were one step away from the medals. Athletics have performed at a good level in Tokyo.

David Valero: Bronze in MTB

The joy of the anonymous champion

His coach, Carlos Coloma – last bronze in Rio – recognized that he had had to convince David Valero to believe in himself. Always away from the great titles, in Tokyo he has conquered the greatest of all, adding a medal in a mountain bike race that was beautiful. The Spaniard came out far behind, climbing from twentieth place to third to seal a bronze comeback.

470 Men’s Team: Bronze Sailing

A medal in five square meters

Before landing in Rio, Jordi Xammar and Nico Rodríguez acknowledged that they had almost lived these five years in the five square meters of their 470. An exaggeration that served to demonstrate the work they had done to reach a podium that finally came true. Bronze that rewards that effort and that returned the candle to the medal table.

Joan Cardona: Bronze sailing

Bronze before reinventing itself

Joan Cardona did not enter the pools to get on the podium, but his competitiveness allowed him to give Spanish sailing its first medal since London 2012. Metal that will be the last of the Finn class, which disappears in Paris and will force the Balearic Islands to transform his body and to choose another boat to be there and increase his record.

Men’s national team: Bronze in handball

The sweetest goodbye for Entrerríos

Spain was left again at the gates of the final, its Olympic limit because Denmark prevented it, but it was able to capture a precious bronze, with which to fire its captain after defeating Egypt. Raúl Entrerríos will not wear the national shirt again, but he leaves with a special taste in his mouth. Another medal to add to the bronze he already had from Beijing 2008 and which adorns a magnificent track record.

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