Carlos Garrote dreams and sees himself in Paris 2024. The Zamorano athlete faces key months to to be able to attend the next Olympic Games and believes in his possibilities, although he must overcome some criteria set by the Spanish Canoeing Federation and he is focused on this with a partner, Íñigo Peña, in whom he trusts 100%.
How are you at this point in the year and with what is to come?
Quite motivated. We have a very good project. Íñigo Peña and I got on the K-2. We are starting training on a team boat and, little by little, getting everything together and feeling better and better.
To go in chronological order, what is your assessment of last season?
The main objective was to qualify K-2 for the Paris Games and be able to go to the World Cup at an Olympic distance. Then, it is true that the K-1 200 is one of my specialties and with it we saved the season. In the World Cup I only thought about the gold, and in that null start from the referee I had come out great and it took me a lot to “reset” my head because the second start was not so good, but we managed to finish in third position. The rating, from 1 to 10, a 7.
2024 arrives, a key year. They couldn’t qualify K-2 but being in Paris is the great challenge.
The good thing is that Spain came with the 6 possible places, which now, in 2024, are put into play in mid-April (to find out which athletes will defend each boat in the Games).
Tell me what the planning will be like and what the selections will be like.
I am totally focused on the K-2 500 with Íñigo Peña. We start in October and until Christmas we will be in the San Juan reservoir, in La Blume, and after Epiphany we will go to Seville almost all of January and February. Then we will return and complete until the selective, which is in mid-April, a month before the World Cup in Szeged (Hungary).
The privilege of those who classified boat
Spain will go to Paris. It has six places for men’s athletes, but it remains to be seen who will row each boat.
That is. The K-1 1,000 of Paco Cubelos will be put into play, who will make a selection with whoever appears, and then the K-2, the same, but we still don’t know who is going to come out against us: whether Germade with Adrián del Río, who are the ones who qualified, or if she will date her long-term partner, Marcus Cooper. There is a dilemma there and until the test gets closer we will not know the K-2 that we are going to face in the control of Asturias or Pontevedra, but yes, there are selective K-1 1,000, K- 2,500 and K-4,500. The criteria are somewhat those that were set last year. A priori, those who classified the boat the previous year have the privilege of a second chance. For example, imagine that Paco Cubelos, who is the one who qualified for the K-1 1000, is beaten by another in that first selective, then Paco would have a second chance in the Szeged World Cup, which is a month after the selective April, in the middle of May, and there if the other wins again he would go as classified, but if Paco wins he would go.
Is it the same in K-2?
Yes, but since we don’t know who is going to run against us… if Germade will be in tandem with Adrián del Río or with Cooper. If Germade and Adrián, who are the ones who qualified, appear and win the Asturias selective, they would go to the Games, and if we win, we would have to row again in the World Cup, and we would have to win again. But, if he goes with Cooper or someone else, supposedly and in theory, that privilege would disappear, and we would all have the same option and whoever won would go to Paris.
The reality is that they are preparing that K-2 500 but they do not know who they will have in front of them.
It is a very important challenge. You have to win whoever goes, and it will be a very strong opponent. If it’s Germade and Adrián, third in the world, it will be very hard, and if it’s Marcus and Germade… what am I going to tell you? The only thing that, if in the end Germade and Cooper go together, they would not have that privilege of the second chance and whoever wins in Asturias would be in Paris.
What do you prefer?
It doesn’t matter, we have to win. Whether Germade-Adrián del Río or Germade-Marcus come out, we only have to win. If we beat Germade and Del Río, it would be decided in the World Cup and we would have to win again, and if it were Germade with another couple, we would still have to win the Spanish selection to go to the Games.
How is K-2 going?
Fairly good. We are two veterans and we are confident. I trust Íñigo a lot because he is hard-working and disciplined, and he is what I like the most. I know that the day we risk everything, he will be ready and he will give it his all. For me, mentally, it is super important that my partner is as focused as I am that we are going to achieve the goal.
What times are they doing?
We’re not there yet. We are coupling the boat with lower rhythms to the competition to adjust everything because Íñigo and I’s way of paddling is a little different and there is work to do, but we are confident in polishing those details.
Can you see yourself in Paris?
Yes, the truth is yes. In my head there are five months left and my goal is to reach that selection in the best possible way and we are working a lot. We are all going together because from the beginning of the season we decided to focus only on this project, depositing all our forces in that boat. We are going to work 200% to win whoever gets on the starting line that day of the selective.
The partner I have gives me a lot of peace of mind, really, he gives me peace of mind because of the work, and the perseverance, I know that he is going to sacrifice the most
How is this pressure controlled?
The most pressure I have felt in my career is when I started in 2019 in the K-1 200 when I qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. It was my greatest achievement because of the pressure of being able to qualify for the Games, which is what I have always aspired to. In those moments, I think that the job is done, that nothing can go wrong and I am convinced that it will. The partner I have gives me a lot of peace of mind, really, he gives me peace of mind for work, and the perseverance, I know that he is going to sacrifice as much as possible. This is his third Olympic Games and I couldn’t have a better partner on this trip.
Is there a substitute figure?
In Tokyo in the end they didn’t take anyone. There are countries that carry them, but outside the country’s Olympic Committee, through the federation in case something happens. There are federations that do it, but in this case they take the right ones. We are going to fight. It is a complicated task to go to Paris and anything can happen until the door is 100% closed. We are going to fight it. We see that there is an open window, that we can achieve it, and we are going to fight for it.
It is also a shame that the K-1 200, which was his great specialty and distance with which he was world champion, is not Olympic in Paris.
But we already knew it. You psych yourself up and turn the page. Then there are K-1 200 World Championships that really motivate me to row them, but the level of demand is not the same as an Olympic distance.
How are the waters in the Federation?
I think it is working well. Javier Hernanz is running the Federation well, with dialogue and more contact with the athlete, something he appreciates. In any case, in the national team there is not much talk about the Federation, we are focused on getting the most out of it and trying to ensure that one of those six places at stake falls on your side.
Do you feel Zamora’s support?
I remember that party when I was world champion, and I will always be grateful to the City Council and Provincial Council, and to the people. Yes I feel the support. That day on stage I said that I hope I can repeat that moment and I hope it will be repeated coming from the Olympic Games.
Is that what you have left?
I have that challenge between my eyebrows. We have proposed it, also with my family, because you keep dragging those around you to make that extra effort. My son’s mother is always at the forefront, and that is vital to perform at 100%. We have all proposed it: the family and the sponsor, Tecozam, who has dedicated themselves to the project and that is a peace of mind in all aspects, both financially and to have the best boat and not worry about anything else. We are super calm and it is Zamora’s help 100%.
2023-11-29 09:06:14
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