The river San Juan It is one of the most important Colombian tributaries. It is born in the hill of Caramanta in the department of Antiochcrosses the department of Risaralda and arrives at the Crashed. It has a length of 380 kilometers, the basin area is 15 thousand square kilometers and the average flow is 2080 m³/s.
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Its waters flow into the Pacific Ocean, on the San Juan Coast, bordering the Cauca’s Valley and its main ports are Istmina and Negria.
Very close to the first town lived the López López family, made up of María Julia and Lucreciano, who had eight children: Leidy Johana, Esneida, Yaneth, Davinson, Tania, YadilsaJuan Esteban Lopez and Yeison, who is a medal hopeful at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in weightlifting.
Difficult moments
The boys’ freedom was undeniable. They spent their time playing on the banks of the river, picking fruit, while their father took care of farming and caring for the three farms he owned. They all studied in communities, the one that belonged to the López family was the one Olave Negrobut then they moved to the Olave Indio, an indigenous group in which several of the children, including Yeison, attended school up to the fifth grade of primary school and ended up in the district of Potedó.
María Julia was in charge of the household chores and Yeison helped out on the farm. He planted bananas, tubers and even worked in a wood workshop. These were hard and exhausting days of work of more than 10 hours, struggling to earn a daily living.
The area was not peaceful, but the López family experienced hostilities due to the clashes between the guerrillas and the paramilitaries. They began to receive death threats. Lucreciano panicked and spoke to María Julia. The decision was not easy to make, but it had to be made.
Running to another part of the country was the only solution or they could be killed. They did not wait for a tragedy to occur, they packed what they could and left in a hurry. Fate was Cali. Lucreciano left with Yeison, who was 12 years old, and Dávinson, while the rest stayed on one of the farms and awaited further communication to make drastic decisions.
Arrival in Cali
Things did not change. The idea of the three members of the López family was not enough and the threats continued, so Maria Julia and the rest of those who remained also took a bus and arrived in Cali. Johana and Yaneth, who left years before to seek to improve their lives, were already living in the capital of Valle de Cauca. They studied and worked, so it was a great help that they were already in the city.
Yeison met Wilmer Torresone of his countless cousins, who lifted weights. He invited the boy, who liked the workout, but the problem was that money was scarce and he was a minor.
Cruz Nodervi lived in the Floralia neighborhood of Cali and sold fried food on the street. Dávinson and Yeison helped him and earned their pesos. In the morning they studied and in the afternoon when they got their jobs the two of them collaborated. At night, they worked for Deportiva, but there was a serious problem: money for transportation.
For a long time, Yeison had to walk from his house to training. He says he would walk and spend between two and three hours, depending on his pace. Sometimes he would save up the fare, get on the bus and walk back, but when he didn’t have any money he had to walk back and forth.
He was in his seventh year of high school and Yeison became enthusiastic about sports, about weightlifting, because his statistics said he was good, that he could go far.
He lost his way
He became disorganized. He began to skip classes, sometimes going to training sessions, but most days he didn’t. He says he was bored because he couldn’t find support. He had to walk to training sessions and that demotivated him, even though he was national champion in the under-15 category.
In 2014, he completely lost himself, he put sport aside, but he continued to hang out with his weightlifting friends. They told him that there was an option to compete in the U-17 World Championships in Lima, Peru, but he had to qualify first. They convinced him to return to training.
The economy at home was not the best, but it had improved. However, Yeison, who was born on January 9, 1999 in Itsmina, Crashedhe came up with a way to help himself and not depend on his father or his aunts. When Cruz Nodervi began selling fried food, he would take out a box of sweets and sell them.
The bus fare, round trip, cost $3,000, and he managed to get it. Sometimes things weren’t so good, but he managed to collect a fare and ask the driver to take him for less money or to let him sneak in through the back door.
There were few resources, but nothing was lacking, and with what he earned he made the decision to raise the crowbar again.
In the tunnel
He qualified for the Colombia selection in the Palmira tournament and was concentrated with the national team for 15 days, alongside today’s weightlifting figures such as Jonathan Rivas, Hellen Escobar, Manuela Berrío and Yenni Sinisterra.
Lima was the passport that gave him definitive entry into the sporting life. Yeison López won the gold in the 75 kilos and has already made the decision to continue lifting weights, no matter what happens.
He then won gold at the National Games for Valle del Cauca. His first coach was Jhon Fernando Rodríguez, to whom he is very grateful. He even visits him and helps him financially when he can.
Then, in 2015, it passed into the hands of Khyber Manjarreswho has been a coach of figures such as Oscar Figueroa and improved a lot. He graduated from high school at Inem school Jorge Isaac Calisomething that gave him wings to change his life.
Positive
2018 was a very tough year. López tested positive in a doping control. The sample showed the substance boldenone, an anabolic steroid used in veterinary medicine to improve physical performance and increase muscle mass in animals.
“I didn’t want to talk to anyone, living became secondary and I thought about committing suicide.”
Then more cases arose, such as those of Mauricio Caicedo, Ana iris Segura, Juan Solis and Sinisterra, who also tested positive for the same substance. Yeison was banned for four years. That was all for him.
“That brought me down. I have never had the intention of taking or consuming substances to win. That positive was a very hard blow. I had very bad thoughts about my life, because I couldn’t understand how that happened. Someone wanted to hurt us,” López told TIME.
She added: “I went into a deep depressive crisis. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, life became secondary and I thought about committing suicide.”
Yeison believes that there were dark hands and that someone put boldenone in the food. “They did four tests on me in a month and a half. They all came out negative and the middle one was bad. It was a strange test. The decision I made was drastic: I didn’t want to do it anymore and I left the sport,” he said.
She spoke to many people, who told her to keep training, that those four years were going by quickly. Lopez reacted, spoke to her family, leaned on her friends and returned to training, even though she knew she couldn’t compete for several years.
“I had to change my mindset and realize that the solution was to continue playing sports so as not to give pleasure to the people who hurt me,” he said.
Her return
The four years, as he was told, flew by, and Yeison’s sanction ended on October 31, 2022, but his ordeal continued. He suffered dehydration of the vertebral discs and his return was postponed until 2023.
The not so invasive intervention. On December 21, 2022, in Bogotawas operated on by the doctor Tito Perillaa surgery that cost him 16 million pesos, which he paid out of his own pocket, but which Indervalle later returned to him.
He went to Cuba and was injured again. A lumbar strain forced him to stop. He returned to Colombia and put himself in the hands of the physiotherapists, who recovered him in the best possible way.
At the World Championships in Saudi Arabia he was not expected to make a super mark and finished fourth in the 96 kilos. And at the Pan American Games in Santiago the coachLuis Arrieta, He trusted him and even though he didn’t arrive in his best form, he won silver and says he threw away the gold. “I made a mistake in a movement and I threw away the gold,” he said.
He is third in the 89 kilo ranking and is focused on what he can do at the Paris Olympics, his goal, his objective. His girlfriend is Hellen Escobaralso a weightlifter and who is finishing his degree in nutrition. López is not far behind and studies sports management at the National Open and Distance University.
He likes to read self-improvement books, as he admits that sometimes he gets frustrated very quickly. He cooks and likes cinema. His idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, whom he admires for his professionalism, his dedication, because he is an athlete.
“Look, Lionel Messi was born with the qualities of a gifted player, whereas Cristiano had to force himself to become the player he is,” he said.
He is a believer, a Catholic, and he entrusts himself to God, to the Virgin Mary, to the Divine Child, whom he asks every day to enlighten him.
Yeison López is not only known for his gifted weightlifting skills and in the Colombian National Team they call him ‘Goku’, because he had long hair and is a fan of Dragon Ball, a nickname that has immortalized him and that was given to him by his teammate in the group and double Olympic medalist.Luis Javier Mosquera.
Lisandro Rengifo
Sent by EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
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