Colombia, a tropical country, has begun to think and believe that a medal in the medium or long term in a Winter Olympics is possible.
When Beijing-2022, where Colombia has attended with three athletes, has entered its last week of competition, the silver achieved by Diego Amaya at the 2020 Youth Winter Games, in ice speed skating, has opened the way to dreams.
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With a transition from roller skating, where the South American country is a power, to the ice, the results can come.
“Our dream is to be the first Latin American country to win a medal at the Winter Games,” explains to AFP the Colombian winter sports coordinator, Sebastián Uprimny.
Hopes in speed skating
“We believe that in a sport like figure skating, in which we achieved our first medal in the Youth Olympics, we have a process. We are a
strong country on wheels and in a transition with a serious project it is proven that the United States has done it with roller skaters, who fight with the Colombians, go through a process and end up winning medals on ice”, adds the deputy delegate of the Colombian representation in Beijing-2022, after Helder Navarro, head of the mission.
“Our first big goal is 2026. At that point we’re going to have two or three athletes in their middle years, between 20 and 25 years of age. And at that moment I see a medal as a goal that we could be having in those Milan Games“, says the leader, who competed in cross-country skiing with Colombia at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Uprimny talks about a plan to strengthen three winter sports specialties in which Colombia can grow.
“We have looked for winter sports that are applicable to a tropical country like ours. And there are basically three. There is skating, since we are a world power on wheels and it is clear that the transition to ice is something that has been done in other countries. The athletes we bring are world champions or have recognition on wheels,” he explains.
“Then there is cross-country skiing, which has all the roller skiing modalities. One goal would be to develop roller skiing, for example like Brazil, which has academies, clubs. It is a sport that we have the possibility of massifying. Starting on wheels with the roller skiing and that those who have the level go from there to the snow”, he adds.
“And the third sport, in which we have not started, by 2026 we have the project to put together a bobsleigh team. The people who push come or will come from our weight program and our track and field leagues. It would be a way to engage athletes who are already competing in the summer,” he concludes.
a tropical country
Uprimny knows that, in a tropical country like Colombia, these projects are not easy to find unanimity.
“To the extent that there are references and that people in Colombia see it as an option, whether it is practicing it in tropical countries or emigrating to a northern country, the sport is going to grow,” he says.
“There may be resistance in some countries towards the winter processes. It is considered something exotic, which is not part of what is ours. Logically, the focus of many resources and energy is on summer, which is where we get the medals. But I think it is something that is taking off. We want the presence to be more and more important in the Winter Olympics,” he insists.
The silver achieved by Diego Amaya in Saint Moritz in 2020 opens the way to dream.
“He is a skater who has been on ice since he was fifteen years old. He won the first medal for Latin America. At 18, he has a future ahead of him. These types of athletes, by 2026, make us dream of a medal,” he concludes optimistically. At the moment, the best result among the three athletes present in Beijing-2022 has been Michael Poettoz’s 31st place in giant slalom, waiting for Laura Gómez’s speed skating.
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AFP
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