The end of the year 2022 was sad for the youth athlete Paola Andrea Loboa Lastre. His performance had gone down. She was not the same athlete who burst in eager to break records and win medals in the 400 meter dash event.
According to the criteria of
She arrived home in tears, possessed by despair and sadness, but not only because she felt that she was not moving forward with her strides, and that the stopwatch was not her best ally in terms of improving her times, but because she was devastated. because of the situation he was experiencing.
A sudden change
She claims that she was in decline, she was mentally liquidated because the environment around her was not the best and her mood was at rock bottom.
This problem had been going on for months. It was part of the Valle del Cauca Athletics League, But what began as a ‘romance’ little by little faded away, so much so that he came to think about making a drastic decision with athletics, and that was to leave his career as an athlete.
“I reached a peak and collapsed. I thought about leaving athletics, I was very bored. It is key for athletes to have good communication between the athlete and the coach, it is not just the plans, but what is discussed with them,” the young athlete told EL TIEMPO.
And he added: “I believe that there must be a communion and that was lacking in my environment. Colleagues were a factor in pushing one forward, but I didn’t have it. I felt bored and sad. I spent 10 years there in the Valley and I had to change.”
Born on April 22, 2005 in Cali, in the home of Ecar Loboa and Maritza LastrePaola Andrea had already been interviewed by the Magdalena League coach, Miguel Angel García, who extended his hand to him, offered him to leave.
She talked to her parents, they decided to change and now she lives in Saint Martha, studies third semester as a professional in sports Magdalena University and he has recovered his best level and is happy.
It was hard for her to leave her home, her family, her surroundings, but it was a film that helped her make the decision. She saw Nadadoras and that inspired her. The true story, the drama of two sisters who made the determination to leave their country, Syria, leaving everything behind and fleeing the war in Damascus. In a boat they crossed the Mediterranean Sea, arrived in Greece and requested asylum before competing in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The story inspired Paola Andrea, who said ‘yes’ to García, whom she met at the JSouth American Youth Games in Argentinawhen he was the coach of Colombia’s speed. He told her to go to Santa Marta for a month, to try it, but on that occasion she gave up, but left the door open.
In November 2002, at the Departmental Games, Loboa met him again and after telling him that she had torn her left hamstring muscle, he insisted that she go to Magdalena and she accepted.
Its beginnings
Ecar and Martiza always looked out for Paola and María Alejandra, the eldest sister in the house. He, working in private transportation and she as a nursing assistant, They supported their daughters who studied and dabbled in sports.
They rose up in the neighborhood Córdoba City, the capital of Valle del Cauca. Paola Andrea studied at Córdoba City School. From the age of seven, he ventured into athletics and found little support in that faculty, he changed and graduated from high school at the Rodrigo Lloreda Caicedo school.
She says that she was not a bad student, on the contrary, she was very good, but when she learned about sports, athletics, her studies took a backseat.
“I had fun, I ran, I wasn’t dedicated to studying, but I didn’t miss a year either. I had problems in my first school because my studying was overloaded, they helped me little with the concentrations, trips and competitions and that’s why I decided to change,” said Loboa Lastre, who won gold in the mixed relay of the South American sub-20 from Bucaramanga.
“I had colleagues who had to go out to work and that is a hard blow for one, because one has always had everything.”
When it was his turn to represent the department in the Games Get over yourself They did not collaborate with him and the study was overloaded. She says that she had to be on top of the teachers to get her enrolled in the competitions and they almost never helped her.
Her father met, in the middle of his work, a client who told him that his daughter was swimming, that she studied at the Lloreda Caicedo public school and when he told Paola they made the decision to change.
“It was abrupt due to the levels of teaching, the demands, the school environment. It is a public school, I had to take care of personal belongings because they were lost and the people were not the same. Look, I came from a private school and public schools are something else, but at the same time I knew life, I knew what life was. T“I had colleagues who had to go out to work and that is a hard blow for one, because one has always had everything.”commented the athlete.
He came to athletics ‘thanks’ to the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. María Alejandra and Paola did not miss the grassroots sport competitions of the London 2012 Olympic Gameswhere Bolt was the big star.
María told her father that she wanted to train, that she was excited to go to the track and one day he took them to the Pan American fields in Cali. First, Paola Andrea went to accompany her sister alongside her father and mother. While they were registering María Alejandra, Paola went down the stairs, got onto the track, and joined the children who were running there.
“My dad told my mom that I was going to like athletics more than my sister and that happened. María Alejandra did not last long. He did 100 meters with hurdles and 400 meters, but his time was short, while I continued”Paola Andrea said.
Her long legs and slim body suited her perfectly to be the outstanding sprinter that she is. They told him that he looked like a gazelle and won in training and in local competitions.
In the Get over yourself games of 2018 She was last and returned to Cali devastated. He thought about not continuing. She was well prepared and the results were not the best, but after several days she changed her decision, her mentality, and returned fully to training.
“I didn’t do things seriously, but one day I changed and started taking my training with more dedication and that helped me because I improved. The thing is that a year before he had won a medal in the Colombian Athletic Talent Program (TAC), I came third, that was my first national. “I traveled alone, as a Valle team, to Bogotá 2017 and that was what motivated me to get back to my level,” she declared.
His first coach was Mirtha Brock, Very experienced athlete, champion in the Bolivarian, South American and Central American and Caribbean Games and with two participations in the Olympic Games: 1996 and 2000.
Your goals
“I have lived in Santa Marta since January 2023 and I am well, happy, content. It wasn’t easy to adapt, but I overcame everything and little by little I adapted. I had a blur, but I grew. I feel like it was difficult for me to adapt. I was away from my family, I had to do things for myself. I was alone, but I set myself the task of learning, of defending myself. I cooked, I did the laundry, I knew that, but I needed the company, the mom hotel they call it,” conto.
In the past Lima U20 World Athletics ChampionshipsLoboa achieved a mark of 52.81 seconds, close to the national record held by Norma González of 52.39s, which gives you the impression that you are on the right path.
For athletics experts in the country, Paola Andrea is an athlete who resembles what she was. Ximena Restrepothe bronze medalist of the 400 meter dash in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.
Restrepo maintains the current record in the category over 400 meters with 49.64s, a record that marked that memorable day in Barcelona.
“Like every athlete, one has a reason and mine is to go to the Olympic Games. I want to go running and give good results there, that is my dream and that is what I sacrifice myself for.”
He understands that he has a great future, but at the same time he knows that he has a lot left to improve in his career. It is not easy to achieve what Restrepo did, but she understands that her career is just beginning and that her times are good and can take her far.
admire Allyson Michelle Felix, who has won 11 Olympic medals, seven gold, three silver and one bronze.
He has in his mind what one of his references, the Dominican Marileidy Paulino, who in the past Paris Olympic Games He won the gold medal in the 400 meter dash with a time of 48.17 seconds, a new world record.
“There are many future competitions that I would like to attend. Like every athlete, one has a reason and mine is to go to the Olympic Games. I want to go running and give good results there, that is my dream and that is why I sacrifice myself,” said Paola Andrea Loboa Lastre, who is following in the footsteps of Ximena Restrepo.
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
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