Nearly 60 years old, the Argentine Santiago Lange, who won gold in Rio-2016 on a Nacra catamaran, overcame cancer and disputes his seventh Olympic Games in Tokyo, in which he had the honor of parading as a standard-bearer at the opening ceremony.
Some of your adversaries could be your grandchildren. His partner in the water, Cecilia Carranza Saroli, born in 1986 in Rosario, is 25 years younger.
But the native of San Isidoro, north of Buenos Aires, doesn’t care. Savor his seventh participation after having debuted in Seoul-1988. Then he was bronze in the tornado catamaran in Athens-2004 and Beijing-2008, before getting gold in Brazil.
In Enoshima, 50 kilometers from Tokyo, the Argentine duo is classified for the final (medal race), reserved for the top ten in the classification and scheduled for Tuesday, but with no hope of a medal after the races held this Sunday. On the eve, Carranza Seroli suffered a back injury.
Lange, an admirer of the Swiss Roger Federer and his compatriot Lionel Messi, admits to having doubted, when the Games were postponed for a year due to the covid-19 pandemic. “It’s a bit like when you run a marathon, you’re at kilometer 32 and you still have ten to go,” he said.
“We were prepared for 2020. And suddenly we had to add a year. It was very hard. The decision to continue was not easy,” he explained.
“But we had dreamed and we had worked very hard for four years, so we decided to continue,” he added.
Also, as a culmination, the Argentine was named along with his companion as Albiceleste flag bearers at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.
“It was a great honor and a great recognition. When I found out, I called everyone who had contributed, my coaches, my children, my family, my friends …”
– ‘Live!’ –
Before, the privilege of leading the Argentine delegation in the opening ceremony of the Games was for “incredible athletes, like Carlos Espínola, my partner in Athens and Beijing”,
Silver medal in the mistral class (windsurfing) in Atlanta-1996 and Sydney-2000, Espínola was able to win twice the bronze in another series, tornado, the double catamaran.
“Besides being a great friend, thanks to him I am here today, he has taught me a lot,” added Lange.
The sailor also remembered Gabriela Sabatini, “a great friend”, winner of the US Open in 1990 and Argentine flag-bearer at the 1988 Seoul Games, where she was runner-up after losing to Steffi Graf, in tennis’s return to the Olympic program.
Recovered from lung cancer just a few months before competing and winning in Rio, he has no doubts when asked about his hobby: “Live!”
And seeing the way he enjoys talking to reporters after grueling days of racing in Enoshima (close to 35 degrees and over 90% humidity), his joie de vivre is contagious.
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