On July 26, the sporting world will have its eyes on the capital of France. It will be that day, after a spectacular route along the Senna River, culminating in the Place du Trocadero, that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will begin. Three years after the last edition in Tokyo, which was delayed due to the pandemic . An event in which up to 10,500 athletes will participate, some of them currently facing difficult times.
This is the case of Ana Peleteiro, bronze medalist in Japan in the Triple Jump discipline. The Galician is one of the many mothers and fathers looking to attend the Paris Olympics this summer, which requires months of prior preparation and a certain distance from the family. The athlete gave birth to Lúa, her first daughter, at the end of 2022, and now she must sacrifice part of her time with her to be one hundred percent ahead of Paris. An uncomfortable feeling that she wanted to share with her followers on her Instagram.
“No one tells you how hard it is to have to leave your daughter for three weeks to be able to work and perform at the highest level in the next Olympic Games. Motherhood is wonderful, but no one prepares you for the pain and guilt that these moments cause,” she said. And Peleteiro has not yet officially qualified for the Olympic Games. After giving birth, she took some time off until this past summer, when she was proclaimed Spanish champion.
The fact is that it was then that he resigned from participating in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which were held last August. “I leave with a good taste in my mouth of recovering first place. I wanted four centimeters more, which is not that much, but hey, next year,” he expressed. Currently, Peleteiro has two avenues open to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games: the minimum mark established by the IOC and the World Athletics Ranking.
In the women’s Triple Jump, athletes must achieve a minimum of 14.55 meters between the various official tests held throughout the year to obtain their ticket. As of today, 7 of the maximum 32 participants already have their mark, including the number 1 in the World Ranking last year, the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas. Peleteiro has not yet made a mark on the 2024 list, but in 2023 she finished in 21st place with a total of 14 meters and 21 centimeters.
Regarding his daughter, many users have left messages of encouragement in his publication. “One thing my psychologist told me when I had to leave for work helped me a lot: ‘You are giving your daughter a model, a motherhood reference that will free her. Your daughter will grow up with you knowing that you also do it for her, that she will be able to choose for herself without feeling the weight of her guilt in that decision,’” one of her comments stated.
