Colombia at the Paris 2024 Olympics: star athletes failed… (Meluk tells him)

Colombia was in its silver medal at the Paris Olympics. The performance, summarized in three silver medals and one bronze, maintains the average level of the last Tokyo Games, where one more silver was won. Unita plus, nothing more…

The golden moment of national Olympic sport was in Rio de Janeiro 2016 with 3 golds!, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes; and London 2012 with one gold, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes, with a wonderful generation of athletes led by Mariana Pajon, Caterine Ibarguen and Oscar Figueroa.

You don’t need a postgraduate degree in sports administration or political science to talk about reduction: 4 medals are less than 5, and 5, less than 8, and 8, less than 9…

In the country of overanalysis of sports and politics (the two sources are identical!) people are always looking for the fifth leg of the cat to feel great, intellectual, and all the ‘analysis’ always ends up with the leaders, the politicians, the governors and never with those first and directly responsible: the athletes.

I will be unpopular in the new misguided wave of Olympic athletes being beyond criticism for their humble origins and ‘supposed’ state neglect.

That Colombia did not win one or two more medals (there were not more either) is the direct responsibility of the favorite athletes who failed in that endeavor.

Candidates failed

The track cycling thing was bad: Kevin Quinterothe keirin world champion, finished last in his quarter-final series. Martha Bayonaworld keirin runner-up, was eliminated on the first day. Both were medal candidates, perhaps for the ‘gold’ that was missing for Colombia to once again be the leader in the area. Plop, plop!

They also failed badly Flor Denis Ruizworld runner-up in javelin, who finished fifth, and Yeni Arias, a boxer eliminated in the quarter-finals who, as a serious and responsible elite athlete, said before fighting: “I’ll only settle for gold.” We are all unhappy!

The Olympics are the pinnacle of high sporting performance, measured in medals, times, and marks. To achieve is to reach or surpass the goal expected of each person. And they failed! Yes, they failed!

That’s why they are magnificent Yeison Lopez, Angel Barajas, Mari Sanchez and Tatiana Renteria. Congratulations!

I just remembered the elimination of the Colombian football team from the World Cup in Qatar. According to the popular opinion and the sober opinion of the ‘analysts’ – they are generally the same – the fault was of the managers who may have many other sins, but they forgot that the puppets did not score a goal in 7 games! They almost blame the Government!

Demagogy

Here, contrary to the erroneous simplistic demagogy, for the last 20 years or so there has been a state policy of supported talents and athletes. It may be short or insufficient, but it exists and has been studied and copied by several neighbouring countries.

For this year, the Government allocated the largest budget in the history of sport: 1.3 billion pesos! But the disastrous Ministry of Sport did not execute it. That is why, in the midst of the national fiscal crisis, a violent cut of almost 70 percent has already been announced. However, the future is uncertain and worrying in the sector.

In Paris, one or two medals were missing from our stars. They are directly responsible…

Coda: To the political hooligans here I leave you: in Tokyo 2020, Colombia, in the Duque government, was ranked 66th. Now, in Paris 2024, under the Petro government, he is ranked 66th… Stop fucking around

MELUK TELLS YOU

Gabriel Meluk

Sports Editor

@MelukLeCuenta

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