In the water since he was three years old, he assures that he had a terrible time in that first course. “How overwhelming,” she says between laughs. Perhaps because he knows better than anyone what water can scare, even in the pool, Eduardo Blasco (San Sebastián, 28 years old), decided to give direction to his swimming training and specialize in lifesaving. He is so good at it, he has specialized so much, he knows the aquatic environment so well, that he decided to use his expertise to save the most defenseless. Already enrolled in a humanitarian mission to save migrants who are risking their lives in unfathomable seas, he is already preparing his next objective: the rescue of people on the Aita ship. A pool champion (44 times from Spain, 7 international medals: gold in the 2018 European Championship and gold in the 2022 World Cup); a superhero in the sea. —In the water since he was a baby thanks to his grandfather, is an athlete born or made? —There are people who have optimal physical qualities for sports practice, but talent without work will not achieve results, especially physical ones. My trainer always tells me: you can’t make a racehorse out of a donkey. And that depends on the desire you have to improve, the humility in knowing that you have to work. — He has done countless kilometers in the pool, how does he motivate himself? —Over the years I have asked to do fewer meters. When the technique is optimal, this work is to have certain aerobic guarantees. And the repetition is good if you do background or long distances. I am 50 and 100 meters, for me doing such a long and tedious job does not give me any benefit, because it goes against going fast, it impairs the reaction. When I did more meters, I only thought that it would end as soon as possible, please. I hate every meter with intensity. —The human tends to the sofa. What is the line between the requirement to motivate and the one that causes rejection? —In my case it’s easy, the one who demanded it was me. I wanted so badly to achieve certain results that it didn’t cost me. At the moment, every year we improve the record, even if it costs a little more each time. And there will be a year in which it will not improve. Because it’s hard to maintain. That’s why we changed our coaches, our way of working. “Is that why he went to rescue?” —If you spend your whole life doing something so concrete, it becomes a monotonous job. I felt like I had to get out. I wanted something that would serve me what I had already acquired, that would pay off the practice done. And I always liked it. I trained before studying. It cleared my mind. I compete in one and in the other I oxygenate. It gave me a longer sports career, much better results. It was the best decision I made. Also, since it was fast and had that towing capacity, rescue boats began to call me. Related News standard Yes INTERVIEW (The Trans Law in sport Alba Palacios: «Because of hormones you don’t perform like when you were a man» Pedro Cifuentes standard Yes sport and heart «Soccer is harder than cycling for the heart» José Carlos Carabias “But it’s one thing to rescue a mannequin in a pool and another to pick up a person in the sea. “Exactly, they have nothing to do with it. In the pool everything is stable and favorable; the mannequin doesn’t move, it doesn’t complain. to a life and death situation, for you and for the other person who is drowning… You can train all you want, but each situation is different. In a competition I used to get nervous, but now it’s child’s play It’s leisure, no one is risking their lives.” “And how do you prepare?” “It’s to be the best physically and mentally, prepared to be fast, strong to resist. You can lose your life, and you know that people are going to die. And even so none of that is enough. I have a psychologist and a coach just for this I work because I know that I am going to see and experience very hard things: people with gunshot wounds, sepsis, children, aggressive people because they don’t know that you are rescuing them, but they think that you are going to stop them… that is not taught anywhere site, there is no school. You get used to competing, not to these situations. “How do you decide who you save and who you leave?” “I save the one who has the best chance of surviving.” And that loads in my head. It’s very hard. You don’t look into the eyes much (gets a little stuck). Because if you look into their eyes, you take them with you forever. And you have to protect yourself; think about the ones you are saving and not the ones that can be lost. It is a job of relativizing: you can think that we have left six people or you can think that we have saved 144; and if I’m not there, the dead are 150. It’s always an unfair and harsh situation, but you can’t take responsibility. I don’t have unlimited capacity and you have to learn to realize that if you can’t do more, you can’t do more. Because you can throw yourself into the sea one more time and never go back up. You can pull an 80-kilo person once, okay, but then it’s another 70, another 80 or two children… —What would we learn from being on that rescue boat with you one day? What are the really important things? And you are happier because you understand how lucky you are. The world is a wild place and we live in Yippee. You intensify everything: a dinner with friends, a hug from your mother. You take more care of yours; we are used to them being there and we don’t realize that they won’t be there forever. (Just the day after this interview, Blasco received the news of the death of his first swimming coach, Alberto Juez González). “Have you ever felt drowned?” —Yes, when you have to change so many cities –now in Fuerteventura– and not knowing where you are going to live, not having roots in any place weighs heavily. You meet someone, you make friends, you go to the Faculty and they sign you up elsewhere. And over and over again. It’s harder than training. I have lived in 10 different cities in 12 years. The suitcase is always packed and the socks folded in case you don’t come back. —What is success? “Give all of you.” Being very good at what you do and wanting to be better. But without losing sight of the fact that those who are not number 1 are not failures. At all levels, in all jobs.
