I see Moha Attaoui qualify for the 800m final and the first thing I do when faced with the great challenge of this young man is to get emotional, just as I got emotional three years ago with Adrián Ben in Tokyo, an athlete with a clear gaze whom I saw grow from a young age, as I did with Attaoui. Once the emotion has passed, I am overcome by memory, the memory of so many people who have forged this historic moment that we will enjoy on Friday, and I will get emotional again.
Athletics is that, heart and statistics, precision and muscle, mathematics and the soul of the people who love it. I remember his lifelong coach in Torrelavega, Raúl Gutiérrez, who represents all the coaches in towns and small cities throughout Spain, where everything always begins: Monzón, Lugo, Villafranca de los Barros, Fuente Álamo, Mataró, Coria del Río… And I don’t forget the technicians who have to receive and polish off the hot potatoes, and assume the responsibility of ensuring that the progress of the best talents of the youth does not go awry, in the different CARs, in Madrid, in Barcelona, in León, or in training centres, a task that my lifelong coach, José Luis Torres, already took on 60 years ago.
But, above all, I remember his two great companions in Paris, Josué Canales and Adrián Ben, and the rest, those who have stayed, but who could also have been in these Games because the Spanish middle distance is so dense: Mariano, Pablo, Álvaro, Saúl and Javier.
More engraved in my memory, more time forming part of my life, and that is why I do not name those I have not met, I have the creators of this moment at the Stade de France that surely everyone dreamed of living, and did not get to, but who have been rewarded with the fantastic performance of this kid. They were the ones who from the beginning of the climb helped to reach and form the base camp so that from there the summit could be reached. Some, unfortunately, have died before being able to enjoy it, like Tomás (Barris), who I include for what he represented for the event, although he was not an Olympian in 8, or Julito (Gómez, El Ruso) and Benjamín (González). Others will be happy, because they surely feel that this is part of them: Lolo Gayoso, Fernández Ortiz, Alberto Esteban, Andreu Ballvé, Colo Trabado, Antonio Páez, Tomás de Teresa, Luisja González, José Arconada, Andrés Díaz, Roberto Parra, José M Cerezo, Antonio Reina, Miguel Quesada, Manuel Olmedo, Luis A Marco, Kevin López, Dani Andújar, and those already mentioned Álvaro de Arriba, Pablo Valladares, Saúl Ordóñez and Adri Ben. I lived with all of them and I know them all, and I know very well what it means to them and on their behalf, and I am still excited, I thank Moha.
Jorge Gonzalez Love He has been an Olympic 1,500m athlete in Mexico 68 and technical manager of the Spanish middle-distance in the lower categories.
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