Mexican pentathlete Emiliano Hernández made up for the two heads and two bodies that his rivals have over him with his heart to become a gladiator in Paris and come close to winning a bronze medal in his Olympic debut.
Exhausted on the track, he let out his tears. The shot put decided the medals, four points separated him from the bronze of the Italian Giogio Malan. Emiliano climbed positions and got 1532 points. It was the cry of the defeated.
His fencing was first class, he was not intimidated by giants, not even by the British Joseph Choong. He beat the man who arrived as the current Olympic champion. He competed head on with his rivals, who are around 1.90m tall. And Emiliano may not have his body type or his height, but he doubled his confidence and exuded energy.
After Choong, he knocked out German Fabian Liebig in the following rounds, then Italian Giorgio Malan, followed by Hungarian Balazs Szep, Italian Matteo Cicinelli, German Marvin Dogue and lost to Egyptian Mohanad Shaban, world bronze medallist.
It is no coincidence that the fencing guru behind Emiliano is the Hungarian Iván Kovács, an eminence with whom he has trained for the last five years. He is his secret weapon from the horse. His fencing at the Palace of Versailles was agile and explosive. He was in Budapest to watch videos and simulate his attacks with sparring partners.
He has dedicated himself to studying each rival, he knows if he is left- or right-handed, if he presses himself, if he knows how to ride. He analyzes them together with his father Marcelo just for fun.
When he was a child, his father Marcelo says that his legs flew off the horse because of his small stature. Today he went out with Voila D’Iliat, whom he met 20 minutes before, as the rules of the pentathlon dictate. Where it is not predictable is the horse riding. Emiliano does not ride high and with repetitions and jumps of 60 and 80 centimeters he reduces the risk.
He was knocked down on two obstacles, at least not like the Egyptian Mohamad Shaban, who stopped and slipped. Valdary Du Bosdel did not respond and he was eliminated from this event alone. The French horses were the most applauded, as the country has a long tradition with this discipline. Another rival was the Egyptian Ahmed Elgendy, who came out ahead in the riding with Crystal White Ifce, with his arm held high.
It was the third best time of his heat in the 200m freestyle after Choong and the Hungarian, and he was in the leading group for every lap. Through videos he has learned to swim not as a pentathlete but as if he were exclusively an Olympic swimmer, it was the only way.
WORLD RECORD
The winner of the event, Ahmed Elgendy, claimed the new world record in the Modern Pentathlon by finishing the event with 1,555 points; the Egyptian had already broken the Olympic record in the semi-finals and leaves with a double prize with his gold at the Palace of Versailles.
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