Carlos Pérez (ASSIGNED).
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Dani Sardinia (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) | Carlos perez Final preparations for your trip to Dubai. The Paralympic athlete, born in Santa Cruz de La Palma in 1995, will be part of the World Cup event in the Arab emirate with the National Athletics Team.
Next week it will stop in Alicante, in the concentration prior to the trip to the coast of the Persian Gulf. A date indicated on the key calendar before the break. Then, a 2020 full of challenges will come: the Europeans in Paris in July; and the fight for a dream, the square in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Dani Sardinia: The World Cup event in Dubai is just around the corner. Looking forward to the day?
Carlos Pérez: I am very excited. I have prepared myself in the best possible way to reach the top.
DC: In these types of dates, do you weigh your nerves and pressure?
CP: Pressure, none. I am going to enjoy myself to give the best of myself, trying to improve the brand in order to get my ticket for Tokyo 2020.
“I will try to improve the brand to get the ticket to Tokyo 2020”.
DC: As a prelude, there will be the previous concentration in Alicante. How do you live that previous week?
CP: We focus with the technical team in a series of meetings to spin all that competition. In addition, we spent a few days together together while we get on with that last set-up.
DC: You have stated that you are in your best form. Do you travel with the illusion of continuing to be among the best in the world?
CP: Right now, it’s my thinking. I am excited. I want to go back to the top: to top ten of the world, fighting for those medals in the World Championship.
“I want to be in top ten world, fighting for medals ».
DC: Lyon 2013 served as the first touchstone. With much less experience: 18 years. What has changed in Carlos Pérez?
CP: The Carlos Pérez of 2013 has nothing to do with that of 2019. I am much more mature psychologically; and physically, I am more prepared.
DC: It was sixth in the world in its category. Do you see it as a unique opportunity to take a step further?
CP: Surpassing that sixth place in 2013 is in my head, but this year there is a lot of rivalry: many athletes stuck in the same marks. It’s going to be a nice and fun fight. We will fight for that position and the medals. But the first thing: I want to enjoy and do my best. And if it is accompanied with medals, great.
“Overcoming sixth place in 2013 is in my head.”
DC: How has putting yourself in the hands of Club Deportivo Meliz Sport under the figure of Luis Felipe helped you?
CP: It has helped me a lot, both physically and psychologically. It is an unconditional support since I put myself in his hands. I am motivated, fulfilling my dreams and goals. The results have arrived: we have returned to the Spanish Championship this year, qualifying for the World Championship. I am getting closer to my dream: to go to the Paralympic Games.
DC: On the horizon, the Paris Europeans and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Exciting as well as tough?
CP: It will be intense. In addition, we come from a season that is being long, as we will end in November to start again in December. If not, we will not get to July in time to that European in Paris, where we will fight for the maximum. And we will continue to fight to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
“I’m getting closer and closer to my dream: to go to the Paralympic Games.”
DC: At the time, you parked the javelin throw and focused exclusively on the longitude saint. What motivated that decision?
CP: For purely sports reasons. Actually, I started feeling all the tests, until I decided on the long jump. But they were difficult, empty years, since I was not feeling too well. Once I recovered my spirits, I found that hope again.
DC: Guada, Michelle Alonso’s coach, told me about the prejudices that continue to exist on the part of society about athletes with a disability. Do you tend to encounter such numbness in your life or sports routine?
CP: Yes, but it is a situation that fortunately, in my personal case, has been improving over time. Thank goodness I haven’t had that problem with prejudice. But I don’t think much about it either, but more about myself. Now, I think that with the visibility that is being given to these types of cases, it will improve with each passing year.
Carlos Pérez (ASSIGNED).
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DC: Will we ever walk towards breaking down these barriers for not complying with the established parameters? For example: seeing an athlete with a disability at an Olympic Games.
CP: Since I was little, I have dreamed of it. Break that barrier. I’m not saying that it will happen today or tomorrow, but in the future.
DC: 2018 was his year to take the step: leave the Isla Bonita to undertake greater challenges. Would you define it as necessary?
CP: The fact of coming to the peninsula has made everything easier for me. On my island, it was complicated: I trained alone, I planned my training sessions… In the end, you don’t do it in a really professional way, as you would like and require high-level competition. The fact of traveling to Guadalajara was a giant step for me in sports.
DC: What does athletics mean for Carlos Pérez?
CP: It’s my life, what I do. I know people, places … it is a great luck to be able to have this level, reaching competitions of such high rank.
DC: Are the sacrifices it entails worth it?
CP: It is a tough process because it requires a lot of work, but it is worth it. You deprive yourself of things you want, but high performance does not allow it. But it is taken for granted. It doesn’t bother me.
DC: When did you feel that special relationship with this sport?
CP: Thanks to my family. They are athletes, so they encouraged me in my involvement in sports, in this case athletics. From the first moment, I saw that it was my sport. I enjoyed it. Once I was trying the different tests, what filled me the most was the length saint.
Athletics is my life, what I do. I know people, places … it is a great luck ».
DC: Does loneliness weigh in in a more individual sport like athletics?
CP: Athletics seems like an individual sport, since you represent yourself individually through results. But at the end of the day, all sports are collective because you need coaches, physios, psychologists … Without them, you would not get anywhere. And they make you that company.
DC: In moments of weakness, what or who inspires you to continue fighting every day?
CP: On the objectives. You don’t have to bolt when you have a bad day because there are so many a year. You will not always be one hundred percent, but you have to overcome it. I will never give up because I end up thinking about what may come: European, World, Games or Championships in Spain.
DC: If you get that low mark for the Tokyo 2020 Games, what will happen?
CP: I’ll have a party (laughs). I would be super happy, it would be a dream achieved. I struggled to be in London and Rio, but it couldn’t be possible. Right now, I’m in the best possible place to get the ticket. I don’t think it will escape me and I will fight for it to be so.
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