[Sport] Loida Zabala, dreams of actress and medal in Tokyo

[Dr.Drako]

Extremaduran Loida Zabala, who aspires in Tokyo to win a medal in her fourth Paralympic Games, combines her facet as a weightlifting athlete with her studies as an actress to dedicate herself in the future to acting.
 

Zabala (Losar de la Vera, Cáceres; 1987) has a long history as a Paralympic athlete. His last success was in 2020, on February 20, when he won the silver medal in the Paralympic weightlifting World Cup in Manchester (England) in the category of up to 50 kilos.
 

"My dream would be to get a medal in Tokyo or in other Games. I do not care about the color. I am going to work very hard and give my all. I do not know if I will get it, but I train for it," says the Extremaduran athlete, who with Eleven years old suffered a spinal infection that made him lose the mobility of his legs and use a wheelchair.

All his sporting efforts are now geared towards the Tokyo Paralympic Games, which had to be postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
 

"As an athlete, I trust that the authorities will make the decision to continue with the Games if humanity is not in danger. At the moment I am going to continue preparing for that goal and I will adapt to the circumstances. I am very excited to experience others Games, but it is also good to have several objectives to focus on, in case one of them is not carried out, "he confesses.
 

The confinement by the State of Alarm decreed by the Government has been passed in Losar de la Vera. There he has been able to continue training and thinking about his Tokyo dream.
 

"These two months of quarantine have been easy for me because months before the Rio Games I was also at home training and resting. After doing medical tests privately to make sure everything was fine, I came from Madrid to Losar de La Vera to continue training. Here I have competition material that I have been getting over the years thanks to Liberty Seguros, "he reveals.
 

What he does miss a lot is "giving lectures", although now he is taking advantage of the time he does not train to start up projects he had in mind such as "creating an association to help many people" and which will count more when everything is closed.
 

"Between some things and others, I keep the day to day busy and for the moment I prefer to stay home responsibly until there is less risk of contagion," he says.
 

Another of Loida's passions is interpreting and studying the Diploma of Cinema and Television at the Central de Cine, of which he has already passed the first year.
 

"What most attracts me from the performance is the range of emotions that I have been getting to know, since being an athlete we are emotionally stronger and do not experience emotions such as desolation or frustration. Being a character we must let everything affect us and it is more complicated than it seems to let those feelings in, "he says.

"I have learned a lot in class and what I still have left. It took me a long time to find my weak point to be able to unfreeze those emotions. I was able to detect in class that my Achilles heel is my mother, I was very surprised to discover it," he says.

 

A few years ago he participated in a documentary subsidized by the Junta de Extremadura and directed by Carla Alonso called 'Fuerza'. He had a tour at several film festivals, won several awards and even got to be programmed in Mexico.
 

"I am very grateful for having allowed me to participate in something that has marked my life a lot, since thanks to this I began to be interested in acting," says Loida, who acknowledges that with this documentary they wanted to teach the public "the vision that everything it can be achieved and that having a disability is not an impediment. "

As an actress, Loida highlights Michelle Jenner. "I really like how sweet it is and how the emotion changes effortlessly. I hope I can be like her and I hope people with disabilities can appear in a series or movie and show that they can do many things."
 

Looking to the future, if she were an actress, she would like "to have the opportunity to demonstrate, especially to the youngest, that you can lead exactly the same life sitting and standing." "Cinema and television are a great tool to demonstrate normality," he stresses.
 

For Loida music is also very important in his day to day. For normal workouts, he prefers heavy, punk or rock. If you are looking for something more indie-style tranquility and if it is competition or a very strong workout, put on "motivating songs" such as 'Your opportunity', by Taxi. Sports, acting, music and social causes. A polyhedral life with many dreams to fulfill.

Edited May 17, 2020 by YaKuZa--BoSs
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