DeepPurple Posted July 24, 2021 Posted July 24, 2021 Adriana Cerezo's face, who had looked happy and smiling all day, suddenly filled with tears. She had had her glory so close to her that she even got to savor it. Olympic gold. She was brushing her fingers over him, almost catching him, when a kick to her chest suddenly woke her from her sleep. She was left with a silver as consolation, the first medal of Spain in these Games, which with the passage of time will gain value for the young taekwondo player from Madrid. To travel to Tokyo, Adriana Cerezo had to be given permission by her parents. The data is enough to corroborate the insulting youth of the taekwondo player who, with only 17 years and 242 days, has captured the first medal for Spain in these Olympic Games. One of the earliest in the national sport, which also serves to uncork the champagne and open the party of the Spanish delegation in Tokyo 2020. Before contesting the final, already with the certainty of knowing herself on the podium, Adriana Cerezo took a nap. In a corner of the training area, with a sheet and a pillow that she had brought from the Olympic village, the Madrilenian slept her dreams and gathered strength for what was coming on her. More than the Thai Wongpattanakit, her rival was herself. If she suddenly forgot all that she had brought him here she would have to settle for silver. To remind her, there was her coach, Jesús Ramal, far from Tokyo due to the coronavirus restrictions, but very present throughout the day. You'll see how angry he's going to throw me now when I talk to him. If it is that I have thrown myself backwards… », recognized Adriana proud after one of the combats of her. Messages and calls that were repeated throughout the day. Like a well-matched marriage. Cerezo came out to that final with the same desire, although she soon realized that everything was going to be more complicated. The entity of her rival, undefeated in the last three years, forced her to take extreme precautions and so did the Spanish. The first round of hers was for her, but a double fall in the second of hers complicated things and made him go in tow (6-9. Just what had not happened in the entire Olympic tournament. He went to the last break Cerezo in search of air. She sat down in her chair as usual, closed her eyes and breathed. Trying to erase her mind. To escape. Just a few seconds to catch your breath and get back to battle. A kick brought him to a point of victory. Another one put him ahead with half a minute still fighting. A sigh in some sports. A world in taekwondo. She kept the Spanish guy looking askance at the clock as she blocked the seizures. All but. The cruelest. The one that stuck like a knife. A kick that left him without gold with three seconds to go. Tears. Cerezo's medal is the earliest of the Spanish Olympism in an individual sport since Atenas 04, when she achieved bronze in her floor exercise. In Barcelona 92, Faustino Reyes and Carolina Pascual, silver for both, can also boast of having reached the youngest podium. In Beijing 2008, Ricky Rubio was also champion before he turned 18. Cerezo was not weighed by the pressure in his first Games, nor by the lack of experience. In her second major tournament at the international level as a senior, the Madrilenian showed that she has plenty of self-confidence and that she has enough quality to beat anyone. She came out to every match with a smile on her face. She is confident and full of faith in herself. Gladly. Out there she had a lot of cattle and entered the tapestry with an advantage. She always did it with the lucky ribbon on her head, the same one that accompanied her in the pre-Olympic and that she has looked proud in Tokyo, and performing her imperturbable ritual. Three jumps, the first of them with the knees on the chest and the other two moving the legs back and forth. Movements with which she goes into a trance. That serve as concentration. She thus she was demolishing one by one the pieces that were put in front of her. The Olympic runner-up in Rio, Bogdanovic, fell first, whom Cerezo surpassed with a devastating second round; It was the turn afterwards for the Chinese legend Wu, to whom she gave a beating to blush - the abysmal difference in points prevented there from even a third round-; and, finally, in the semifinals she beat the bronze in the 2019 World Cup, the Turkish Yildirim. Three steps to the podium. Three victories towards glory. There was one more left, but the medal was in his pocket. Adriana's cry after securing the silver reached the sky after crossing the roof of the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo. A kind of Asian Ifema where the Games have installed taekwondo. The installation, cold in itself, was chilling due to the absence of public and the oriental mania of putting the air conditioning on full blast. That is why Cerezo, warm-blooded, sought allies. «I need people. Let them encourage me and tell me that I am doing it right or wrong. That is why I have told everyone 1
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