They say that in the Olympic Village, the few who found out were surprised by a new example of Paula Pareto. It was days until his debut in his fourth and last Olympic Game, but The Little At times he locked himself in his room to first study and then take the final exam in Orthopedics and Traumatology. Because, of course, in addition to being one of the best judocas in the world, our double Olympic medalist sought to do the oral well to pass the three-year course and thus advance in her profession, the same one that she passed through in recent years in which she He remained in the world elite of his sport. An exemplary, inspiring case, without a doubt.
“I never wanted privileged treatment, the other way around… From the first day I asked the teachers to demand me as one more. This time, the two who took me only gave me the benefit of performing first because they knew I was at the Villa and had to go to training. But nothing else. I am a normal person, like all my colleagues, and it is not appropriate to have a special treatment. Maybe on a tatami I can have it, because of what I did and even though I don’t like it either, but as a doctor it has nothing to do with it ”, explains Lto Peque, sharply, after returning from Japan, where he scratched a third Olympic medal – he lost in the semifinals.
When the last fight ended, Pareto announced his retirement after 16 years in the world elite, including 13 Pan American medals (six golds), three in Pan American (one gold), three in World Cups (one gold) and two in Olympic Games (gold). in 2016 and bronze in 2008). Now another stage in her life opens up despite the fact that, in recent days, while she was quarantining at home, she could be seen training as if she were going to play another tournament. “I am like that, I cannot stop and more when there are some challenges that I like. I motivate myself and people love these exercises of difficulty. They have a lot of repercussion, people return you with comments like ‘you gave me the strength to go out or to go to train’. As long as it motivates a person, the objective is accomplished ”, he says, although not without admitting that these actions will be exceptions.
“Training I am not going to stop training, but not so much judo anymore, more than anything because of the physical fatigue and injuries that I have accumulated in recent years. If I have to put on the kimono to help the girls of the National Team, I will do it, without a charge, even if it was proposed to me … But now without the obligation of having to train for a competition like before ”, he explains.
-For parents there is the Empty Nest Syndrome when the children leave the house. Do you think the same thing will happen to you, a void, that you are going to miss this training and be an elite athlete?
-I don’t think I feel that empty nest syndrome (laughs). The other day I was in training and I said to Laura (Martinel, his coach) ‘how happy I am to see him from the outside’. She, precisely, told me that when she retired, she had not put on the kimono for five years. I don’t think so much, but I feel like I’ve already given everything, as I said in Tokyo, that I don’t have more. The last few months were not easy. I am not saying that I suffered them, but it was not like before. The pain, the injuries, the time without sleeping well, the trips … It is not easy to bear all that, it is costing you mentally. Say everything and a little more.
-Above you went preparing for this ending and you have many other things to do.
-Of course, I have so much pending that I do not think I am surprised (laughs). Be careful, I discussed it with my psychologist (Gustavo Ruiz), surely it will not be easy and the duel will have to do it, but I will not have much free time to realize it. There will be a change in things that I will do and even in my lifestyle, but the workload will be the same or greater than before.
-What do you have in mind or programmed for this new life?
– Dedicate more time to my profession, now that I have completed Traumatology and Orthopedics and that I am just a short way from finishing my residency. Make more family life because among my obligations and, especially the pandemic, I have been very far away. I didn’t want to take chances, especially when preparing for tournaments. More freed from the competitive part, it will be time to enjoy another way.
-The reception and the Hall of Honor given to you by the doctors at the Hospital de San Isidro are terrifying, right? What generated you?
-Yes, exciting. The thing about the hospital made me remember the reception of the athletes in the village. I knew they wanted to say hello, but I was surprised because all my trauma colleagues were there, but also other doctors with whom I trained and several from other specialties. Very happy and surprised, the truth, more of the same of what is happening to me these days. It’s nice that it happens, I’m enjoying it, but at the same time I feel like it’s a lot …
– Do you think now to give even more prominence to social assistance? Because it is something that you discovered and liked very much.
-Yes, it’s true, it’s something I discovered and I love it. I am constantly doing things because with the social it happens that one thing leads to another and actions are chained, because you are meeting people who want to help and are joining along the way. For example, the other day a boy wrote me that he gave us some mates for Tokyo because he had seen when I made a post of the Los Pepitos picnic area that Braian (Toledo) helped and now I am, and he offered to send Cristina sweets and cookies , the owner. This is the way it happens all the time: there are many people who want to help and do not know how. And when he finds out about an action, he adds up. Now, precisely, Karina, from Hogar El Alba in Longchamps, called me to see if we could help a transplant for one of the local boys. Actually, I do more of a nexus, making situations or places visible to be able to bring people together who are willing to give a hand. The Saint-Gobain Footprint is the basis of everything. It is a program that has been with us athletes for more than ten years as ambassadors, seeking to improve the infrastructure of the places, with their materials but also with the training of the people who work in each one. In this case, with the arrangement of the ceilings and walls of the buildings that this home has, which, in addition to being a children’s home, has a women’s home to fight against gender violence. But, at the same time, part of the mark it leaves is to open the door of solidarity and for other people or companies to join the solidarity movement that is so important.
-And what does helping you generate?
-It comforts you, it makes you feel good, because you see that your image, everything you did, has a utility that goes beyond sports. It is beautiful to be able to leave something in the community, to leave that mark that the program talks about. And, in addition, it helps you to take dimension and see life from another perspective. When you go to a place like that, with kids with so many problems, you find that sometimes you complain outright. Knowing these realities makes you a little better as a person, seeing the privileges you have and that, with a little, nothing more, you can give a hand, make visible realities that are not known. And having that commitment that makes us all feel good.
-Before Tokyo you visited the Hogar El Alba and had a very nice experience with the boys and girls of the place, with the people who put their bodies every day to make life a little less traumatic for these little ones, although at the same time it is always hard … How was the new experience?
-And yes, it is difficult… It happened to me that a girl approached me and asked if she could ask me a question and, when I said yes, she asked me when I was going to be with her mother again… It broke my soul. The only thing he wanted was to go with his mother and maybe he couldn’t because of some violent situation at home. That is devastating, it does not enter your head that a girl has to go through something like this … (she gets excited). But hey, I think that, sometimes, things have to hit you like this so that you realize how lucky we are, of the life we have. And, at the same time, in that mixture of feelings that invade you, you also feel good, because although you are not going to change the world, at least you contribute a grain of sand so that the lives of other people who suffer are a little better . I do not know if it is enough but it is what we can do and for that the commitment is worth.
When the Little One doesn’t need to win medals to make a mark.
.