For the fifth consecutive edition, the cyclist from Entre Ríos Rodrigo López will be part of the game, who will compete again in the Track and Route modalities. The 42-year-old from Colón has been saying present since Athens 2004, the edition in which he obtained his first bronze medal.
As throughout his long and outstanding career, Rodrigo granted an interview to El Entre Ríos before leaving for the Olympics and true to his style he did not shy away from any topic (even pointing to a phrase by Darwin), in addition to referring to his travel schedule and the difficulties he had and will face due to the pandemic.
– How is the travel schedule?
– It is a little more complicated than other times due to the sanitary protocol. Monday and Tuesday I have to do my studies and swabbing at CENARD. On August 16, my flight leaves for Tokyo, with a stopover in Frankfurt. According to what I was informed this Saturday, we are not going to meet in the Olympic Village, but in the city of Fuji, which is 120 kilometers and 84 kilometers from the track. I’ve never been that far. And the other is that we arrived on the 18th and if I have to quarantine for 7 days, I finish one day before the first test. So I would compete without testing the bike on the track.
– What are the competition dates?
-The first two are from Track, on the 26th and 27th (Pursuit and Kilometer) in Izu; and at the Fuji racetrack the Road tests: the 31 Chronometer and the 2 Route. I do not have the schedules.
– How has your preparation been, has it been modified by the pandemic? Do you think in that sense that you are at a disadvantage with your European colleagues?
-I tell you the truth and do not take it as an excuse, but the truth is that it becomes more and more difficult. It is categories are joined and that leaves me at a disadvantage by having to compete with categories higher than mine. Add to that the logistics and equipment they have. But anyway that does not put me down, on the contrary it strengthens me, adapted cycling has come a long way.
My preparation was very good, as always, working hard and adapted to the circumstances, as the famous Darwin said in his theory of natural selection: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most intelligent that survives. . It is the one that is more adaptable to change ”, and if there were many changes, it changed the lifestyle practically …
I do what I can with what I have at hand, I don’t despair, I just do it in my city, with a gym and other activities. Thanks to technology, I have a smart trainer that simulates the tracks and routes with an app. The closest track I have is in Uruguay and the borders are closed, but it doesn’t matter, you can train, it’s not the same of course, but hey, the important thing is to train. As always I will give my all in the tests, trying to make good the Argentine adapted cycling, if there is a podium, a joy and if there is not, there is also the joy of participating and having reached my fifth Games consecutively makes me enjoy everything.
– You have a long history in the Olympics, what is special about the Tokyo Olympics for your career?
– And all my games were special. In this case happy to reach the fifths and give everything, as if they were the first. More than anything, it is dressing myself in the National Team clothing, beyond the achievements it is knowing that I can do it, it fills me with joy to see the years go by and continue, also to see how many are passing, in fact from Athens I am cycling. of the few that remain. If I am not mistaken, we will be 5 or 6 of all adapted cycling and in my category there is no one left who ran with me … I am the only one !!! Demonstrate and show me that it can be done, “the old ones” are not old yet and we endure ahahaha! Let’s say a lifestyle.
In addition, these Games are the 20th anniversary that I started with this dream together with my dad and coach Juan Carlos. Two decades of hard work and I still feel like continuing, that is something very special this year.
– Do you have a time parameter, something that more or less guides you regarding your possible rivals?
– The truth is that nothing updated. I haven’t competed for almost 2 years and I couldn’t do track either. Let’s say I’m going with my eyes closed, groping, but that’s not why I’m going to do it just like that. What I can tell you is that physically, I feel stronger, stronger and not literally. For example, I have a mark on the press machine in the gym where in the run up to Rio de Janeiro I could lift 220 kilos and now I am at 315. Also mentally more motivated and calm. But above all, I leave it in the hands of God and let it come out as he wants.
– Are you watching the Olympics? What opinion do you have of Argentine athletes?
– Yes, I look at them. I think they are fine, they give everything, they don’t save anything. While there have not been many medals, they have performed very well. Getting to the Olympics is a whole process that even if you have money, they don’t give you the place, you have to earn it. And I feel sad and angry when social networks criticize athletes, because they do not win, it is very easy to say it behind an armchair or a click. Surely those same snitches or protested when the PE teacher made them take a walk on the field. Many see that they are in the Olympics but they do not know everything they did to get there, all the resignations and everything they left behind to be there. That is why for me they are very good, they do what they can because many athletes have neither sponsors nor sponsor. Some even work. for that reason we have to thank the amateur athletes regardless of whether or not they achieve medals.
