Swimming, my favorite medicine, says Miguel de Lara

▲ Central American and Pan American medalist, he is the only tricolor swimmer classified so far for the Parisian event Photo San Salvador 2023

Leonardo Mena Gil

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, February 2, 2024, p. a10

An asthma condition brought Miguel de Lara closer to swimming. The goal was to strengthen his respiratory system without having to resort to drugs. His family’s concern was so great that they looked for alternatives. Swimming became his solution and favorite medication to control the illness that he was diagnosed with since he was a child.

In the end, what seemed like a threat or a bad move of destiny, led to the best Mexican swimmer of today.

That’s how I found swimming, on the recommendation of a doctor. Then I fell in love with its dynamics and that you are not dependent on anyone else, as a discipline of appreciation like taekwondo can be. Swimming is different; You are alone against the world, against the stopwatch and that’s it, he shared.

As happened to De Lara, many doctors around the world advise this practice to stop a condition that attacks the airways and causes obstruction in the bronchi. According to a study by Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyAt the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 25 percent of swimmers who participated had asthma.

For the man from Coahuila, immersing himself in the pools was the beginning of a better quality of life, but it also became a goal: reaching the Olympics, which he achieved last year after two decades of breaking stones.

Since I was little, they explained to me what the Games were and I imagined getting there. For the same reason I didn’t like missing training. My mother sentenced me not to take me and it was the worst thing they could say to me, because she knew perfectly well what she had to do to get to where she wanted to be.

The chances of fate led him to high performance, very similar to what happened to Michael Phelps and his diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As therapy, doctors advised Debbie, Michael’s mother, to enroll him in swimming classes. Thus, at the age of nine, the Baltimore shark He learned about the practice that would later make him the king of the pools and the athlete with the most medals in the history of the Olympic Games (28).

Heading to Tokyo 2020, De Lara was close to obtaining his pass. That bitter pill was a hard blow for the Lagunero. Resilience, however, was his best ally in achieving the Olympic record (2:09.60) three years later. In the 200 meter breaststroke modality and even with eight hundredths below the minimum mark established by the World Aquatics, the Mexican swimmer achieved his place despite the internal voices that often told him that he was not good enough to compete. continue.

The turning point in his career came when the possibility of leaving the country arose. Although his times continued to improve, he had to continue growing and the United States became an option.

I wanted to go to study, but I had a problem with the paperwork at the NCAA and I couldn’t. Back then I was told I only had three years of eligibility, which meant paying for my first year of college before receiving the scholarship my second year. It was impossible to afford them due to the exorbitant prices.

At the time, the only thing he received was an invitation to train at Auburn University as a professional swimmer. There he met his current coach and Olympic medalist in Seoul 88, the Spanish Sergio López.

So far, the one from Torreón, who won five gold medals in the Central American Games and one bronze in the Pan American Games, is the only tricolor swimmer qualified for Paris. At the World Championships that began in Doha, even more elements could be added to the list.

2024-02-02 09:36:55
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