Five gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze in the Olympic Games were commissioned today to inaugurate the first edition of the FID Santander Grupo Bárymont in a Santander Festival Palace with its more than 600 packed seats in the Pereda room. Javier Sotomayor, Ruth Beitia, Fermín Cacho and Gervasio Deferr participated in the ‘Golden Olympians’ event, in which the “four great friends” that they are, as Beitia recounted, chatted about their paths to sporting glory.
Speeches by Gema Igual, Mayor of Santander, Pablo Zuloaga, Vice President of the Government of Cantabria, and Javier Montaraz, General Director of the Bárymont Group, as well as a musical performance by a violinist to the rhythm of Sweet Caroline, were in charge of giving the starting gun. The first participant of the gala was The man who has jumped the highest in history. “I have been lucky enough to be able to break the world record several times,” he began by saying Javier Sotomayor in his conversation with Nico Abad, host of the talks. The Cuban confessed that, during his career, “he dreamed that he was flying when he jumped”, and his mark of 2.45 meters established in Salamanca in 1993 is the greatest flight ever seen. Now, he spends much of his time training his son, Jaxiel, in Guadalajara, whose father warned that, at the age of 14, he has gone “from jumping 1.50 to 1.97″. However, Javier recounted the great difference between the two Sotomayors: “He started trying various disciplines, like me. But the high jump was what he was best at and what I liked the most. I, on the other hand, liked the race better”.
Sotomayor had time to reflect on her career, marked by the absence of Cuba in two Olympic Games for geopolitical reasons. “One feels bad, in 1988 the chances of winning were very great. It was not certain, but a great result could have come from seeing the gold records in those Games. We got it, but not 100%. Now when the years go by I understand much less. An Olympic Games do not have to get involved with politics, to get to an Olympics there is a very long way and not being able to go frustrates ”, he detailed. It was in Barcelona when the Cuban was able to remove that Olympic thorn. “Of all my competitions, Barcelona is the one I was most nervous about. The night before I was able to get little rest because of my nerves. Going to the stadium I forgot the accreditation, my first jump was null… But I kept adjusting and I won”.
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The next turn was for another high jump legend, a Ruth Beitia who got the biggest ovation of the night from her audience. “Welcome to your house”, Abad proclaimed to introduce the ex-athlete from Santander, who took the London 2012 bronze medal out of her pocket, which was awarded to her this summer. “It is the first time that I present it in Santander. We were robbed of the feeling of receiving her on the podium, but she is already here”explained Beitia while also teaching the Rio 2016 gold medal. “Winning this is the magic of sport”, Ruth said looking at the two metals that will now rest in the Sports Museum of the Cantabrian capital. “The special thing is how we have achieved them, without ever leaving Santander, making an effort and growing. Here I had everything: rain, hail, cold… And I had the most beautiful, my family and my coach, Ramón”. In an example of never giving up, the big hits came to Beitia in the final years of her career. “I have had many motivations, but the most important thing was to believe that I didn’t have everything. She was always trying to polish little things with the clear goal of getting better”, narrated. “It was hard for me to discover that my biggest rival was me, and that’s when I started to get to know myself better. You have your rivals under control. I learned to control sensations and enjoy myself, I had a blast. I learned more from the defeats than from the victories, when we got up and saw where the mistake was and moved forward”.
The darkest moments of Gervasio Deffer and the companionship of Fermín Cacho
Also special was the screening of the gold video by Fermín Cacho in Barcelona’92. “I have cried more afterwards than during those times. In those Games, Spanish sport took a qualitative leap that still lasts”, explained the former runner of 1,500. “I have seen the race more in recent years with my little daughter, but that test and many more. My daughters are proud, they learn that you have to work to be the best, they see that with work and effort things can be achieved. Sport has given me values such as perseverance, effort, work, respect”, commented the Soriano. “I thank all my rivals because they have made me better, they have made me fight to improve. They were rivals and companions, ”said a Cacho who became the great entertainer of the gala with his continuous jokes.
The final turn went to Gervasio Deferr, who could not be present due to back pain. The two-time Olympic champion explained, telematically, the competitive gene he has always had. “The pure moment of the competition was what made my heart race, the moment before competing knowing that you are fit and that you can win. Even the defeats were very exciting and I experienced them intensely. I didn’t like training very much, but the competition was my life and I have enjoyed it very much”, Deferr explained before telling what the Olympic Games entailed. “In this event you have the responsibility to represent a country, if you win, the whole country wins. That is something that is never forgotten. To start with he was physically talented, but he was playful. When I discover my goal is watching Barcelona’92. To be a true champion you have to win the Olympic Games, and that started to be my big goal”.
The Catalan ended his speech by talking about the hard times he went through not so long ago. “Gymnastics was over and I didn’t know what to do, I was lost. I had bad company and bad advice, alcohol was a problem. I needed help and I asked for it. There are things we can’t do alone, like winning Olympic gold. I couldn’t do this alone.” The two-time Olympic champion was honest before the final point of the gala, produced after a pleasant chat between the participants. Tomorrow, the FID continues with the tribute to Real Madrid’s seventh European Cup, in which Fernando Sanz, Manolo Sanchís, Pedja Mijatovic and Emilio Amavisca from Santander will participate from 8:00 p.m. in a table moderated by Tomás RonceroAS journalist.
