A hand, an arm or a leg does not make a difference. The difference is in the will and the attitude that one has to live. The difference is when one realizes that life is a while and that it is -almost- an obligation to do what the heart feels. This is now, an instant, and otherwise we will not learn to live.
When he was six months old, an accident changed his life. However, she dreamed of being an Olympic athlete and she achieved that at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Alfonsina Maldonado Urse She was a girl “on horseback”, who competed in two World Cups and was the fifth best in the world, lived in 13 countries and competed in more than 20. Now, her next goal is a medal at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Alfonsina Maldonado Urse was born in Florida on December 9, 1984. She attended her primary studies at Rural School No. 105 Costas de Aria in Florida, to which she went on horseback. She attended the Florida School of Poultry, where she graduated with a degree in agricultural technique. She also took a course at the Uruguayan Army Riding School to be an equine therapy instructor.
Six months later, he suffered an accident with first-degree burns on the entire left side of his body.
He spent 32 days in a coma and underwent 17 plastic surgeries, the result of which was the loss of his left hand. Until she was five years old, she was hospitalized in the Burn Unit of the Montevideo Military Hospital.
Every time they were going to do a scraping, she always remembers that her surgeon asked her what she was going to be when she grew up and she, very sure, told him: Olympic athlete.
The way. Over time, Maldonado learned to transform frustrations and fears into a message, because he assures that “the obstacles are to learn and to put passion to the test.”
His path has been very long and he started very early. He learned about the discipline on television. He was fascinated by the tests, but his parents told him that it was impossible for him to do it.
Nor was he satisfied with that second “no” that life gave him. When she was 13 years old, she went to an army test in San Ramón, she won her place in the course and then she was awarded a scholarship to ride.
Her first contacts with horse riding began there, but she began to practice the sport in Europe, when she decided to be an Olympian at the age of 21.
“I started riding level horses that have been my teachers. I rode with great international level riders, from Olympic squads. I spent my time keeping my mouth shut, learning and working very hard with minimal resources. Every class they gave me was an opportunity, and the opportunities are unique,” he explained.
Reaching the Rio Olympics was a path of extreme sacrifices, which today looks back and it is not explained how he achieved it. He believes that he responds to madness, desire for him and that will to do it without anything else mattering.
Hoy. She has currently been living in Uruguay for two years due to the pandemic, which brought her back home. In 2020 she was training for the Tokyo Olympics, but once here she found herself in a new world.
After 15 years, he started again from scratch because his sport, in Uruguay, practically does not exist.
“I am a person who constantly seeks to reinvent himself, create a message for people to cheer up,” he said.
These days he has been practicing the Paleteadas Criollas, because today he is dedicated to the communication of horses and, to be able to transmit emotions with certainty, he said, he first needs to feel them.
Freedom was engraved on the girl who rode to school.
“Whenever I have to do something and I don’t dare, I always go back to the girl who is not afraid. I return to that brave girl, who closed her eyes so as not to cry with her scratches. She that she left the hospital to fulfill her dream, “she said.
Meta. His great challenge is to return to the track to represent Uruguay at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. The rider, the horses and the team are there, but the sponsorship is missing, the eternal struggle.
“I think that the Uruguayan woman lacks the courage to do what she really likes and feels. You have to take the first step, because things do not happen from one day to the next, ”she concluded.
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