Jigoro Kano, master of martial arts and creator of judo, said that this discipline “More than an art of attack and defense, it is a lifestyle”. Many years later and at the other end of the planet, the story of the Rosario judoka Alejandro Carraveta, to a certain extent proves him right.
“As a child I suffered from asthma. We had a very precarious apartment, in which when it rained more water fell further inside than outside the house. I remember how my old lady put little tacks everywhere. At that time I took many antibiotics until at the age of six we went to see a doctor who recommended that my parents play sports: the two most complete to attack this problem were swimming and judo, and I leaned towards judo ” , said Carraveta, who started the activity “in Central Córdoba, with all the kids from the neighborhood. I lived in Necochea and Ituzaingó and my mother took me to San Martín and Dean Funes”, he clarified.
What do you remember from your beginnings as a judoka?
Those were very hard years, because I didn’t even beat a 4 of cups. I was always the last and everyone passed me by.
And what was it that encouraged you to continue?
My dad always taught me to get up and keep going, over and over again. He was little and every time he lost he told me, the next one will be… And it was like that. When I was 9 years old I started to finish third, then second… I remember that at that age I reached a final in Provincial with a lot of ear pain, but I still started to fight until I had to give up because I couldn’t give it any more. Imagine a boy at that age… It was a flood of tears, because he had never been so close. Then I began to climb until I became the best competitor in the two categories in which I participated: up to 60 and 65 kilos. I liked to compete and if I don’t do it now it’s because I had an operation on my spine and since then I can’t compete.
Yours was the fruit of work.
Yes, what I achieved was with a lot of effort, a lot of work. The “persevere and you will succeed” was branded on fire, and that’s how it was my whole life.
What was your best moment as a judoka?
I practiced judo until I was 25 years old. In 1982 I participated in the Cruz del Sur Games that were held in Rosario (N. de la R. see separate) and later I traveled to some Pan American Games like in Mexico and Puerto Rico and to other tournaments. Returning to your question, I would tell you that all the moments were beautiful. In each place that he entered to fight, he looked at him and told me: I have to record this because this happens to me once and I don’t know if it will happen again. When they gave me an award the same thing happened to me, I lived in the moment. I won many tournaments and they were all important. If I look at the trophies I get little flashes of how I won each one. What they all have in common is that to get them I needed sacrifice. None was easy for me, none. I had to row all of them, as in life itself.
Did you have any formula to go to compete?
I remember that I was always nervous. The day before a competition I drank linden tea and nothing calmed me down. But he stepped on the tatami and everything happened. We were the opponent and I. There was no one else.
Did you suffer any sporting disappointment?
I had become the Argentine champion and I had to go to the Olympic Games, but in my place was a man from Buenos Aires who had eliminated in that tournament and finished third. There was a rivalry between Buenos Aires and the interior, they send him to the Games and me to a tournament in Mexico so that I don’t scream. I didn’t like those things that the leaders put together.
At the age of 25 you left judo, why did you do it?
I’ll tell you how the story went. I like competing more than teaching, but since I didn’t have a job, I agreed to teach at Sportivo Federal. I went three times a week, gave classes and earned very well, until one day, due to arguments with my father, I decided to do something because with judo I was not going to survive. I sat on my neighbor’s wall and it occurred to me to set up a gym. I rented a place and started. I was advancing and they no longer gave me the times. One thing was leading to another. I left Sportivo Federal and I didn’t practice as much anymore because I focused more on the gym until the gym took up all my time.
But it wasn’t the only reason, was it?
No. The lack of recognition towards my father was another reason. At one point, my father was the president of the Santa Fe Judo Federation, at a time when the atmosphere was heavy and he clashed a lot with the teachers. My old man was a very strict person, very upright, if he said white, it was because he was white, not because he wanted it to be white and it was black or gray. Thanks to him, the Federation had a judo sports complex, got the two French mats that were used in the Cruz del Sur Games, and thanks to his leadership we traveled to different places without paying a peso. Despite that Eduardo Gabriel Carraveta, my father, was a man not remembered in the environment, something that made me very angry and also helped me not to continue in this activity.
That conflict that your father had, did it influence your career?
There was a certain discomfort between him and some teachers (who were also referees) that sometimes went further. I began to notice, for example, that when I fought, I did an ippon (maximum score and completion of the fight) and they charged me waza ari (an intermediate score). I talked about it with my father and told him that what was happening to me was a problem with him, not with me, he replied that he could not “go tell the teacher to charge what he had to charge if he thought otherwise ”. He obviously didn’t know what to do and I let him know. And what do I do now? I told him and he replied: “don’t do one ippon, do two”. Based on that, I began to perfect myself and thanks to that pressure I was able to go much further than I would have.
Do you have an outstanding account?
Honestly, I am not satisfied with what I did in judo. Be careful, it’s not envy, but I would have liked to be on the plaques that are on Pellegrini Avenue. I made merits to be in that place, but well, it didn’t happen.
If you had to give advice to young people, what would you tell them?
I would tell them that as we take care of our body when we are young, the body will respond to us when we are older. That they take care of themselves and avoid excesses because in the long run that ends up paying.
Gold at the 1982 Cruz del Sur Games
Alejandro Carraveta was one of the few people from Rosario who, in 1992, won a gold medal at the II Cruz del Sur Games. which were held in our city in an unprecedented multi-sports event such as the South American Youth Games that will begin in April.
“Of the games themselves, what memory is the camaraderie that there was. We were together with the rest of the delegations in the village and we were all the same. It was a different time than this, I think there was more camaraderie”, he stressed.
When referring to the preparation for said event, Carraveta highlighted that “I didn’t have Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays: we were always in competition. Tuesday and Thursday we trained with the schools, more than anything so that the person in charge of the school knows how the judoka worked; and Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the different clubs, each one on their own”.
As he told this newspaper in a note published in December 1982, “when Sergio Guadagnini (the other judoka from Rosario in competition) lost his match, I felt a bit obliged to somehow avenge that defeat and I left everything I had to triumph over the Bolivian Rivero (bronze medal) and the Chilean Arroyo (silver medal)”.
Today, many years later, Carraveta recalled the fight with which he won the gold medal. “I clearly remember the final of those games… I went into all or nothing. The strange thing was that he was very calm when I went up to the tatami. Before I was a bundle of nerves but there I didn’t have them, I was another person” confessed the judoka and then delve into the subject. “Arroyo was tall, and I, being short, entered waist casts. It wasn’t an ippon but it was a waza ari. From there I noticed that the Chilean was not so sure. Feeling in the air changes a lot of things, but luckily I never experienced that, except in practice. When he fell, I felt that no one could take the victory away from me. I knew that the Chilean had no chance of doing anything else, because he had studied it in previous fights, and I was lucky that my teacher, José Gaspar, taught me five perfected sets when the Chilean had one, nothing more. It was a definition by points”.
The moment of the award ceremony was also unforgettable since being from Rosario, the gold medal had another flavor. “At the time of the award ceremony, all the sacrifice he had made to get there passed like a one-minute movie. I liked going to compete outside the city, but in Rosario, it was like doing it at home”, he concluded.
