Antonio Gonzalez He lived off what his bicycle workshop in Itaguiwhile his wife, María Elsy, was in charge of the house, helping their children, Jhon Jaime, Humberto, Paula, Aurora and Jorge Alejandro, to get ahead.
The situation at home was not the best. Money was scarce and what was raised was not enough. They lived in rent, but due to non-payment several times they were sent to the races.
(Néstor Lorenzo, bluntly: confirms the first player ruled out of Colombia for October)(Santiago Buitrago has an impressive stage: he climbed in the general classification of the Vuelta a España)
difficult situation
One day after Paula and Aurora, the twins, were born, they were thrown out, because there was no money to pay the rent. Antonio worked and immersed himself in alcohol.
While that was happening, Jhon Jaime González I tried to help as much as I could. The technical today of the Colombian Track Cycling Teamwho has just helped his pupils win two gold and four silver medals in the Cal Junior World Cupi, was in charge, back in 1991, of helping to patch the bicycle tubulars, to “give the old man a hand.”
Although his idea was not to be a cyclist, it was clear that something would rub off on him. He was always a good student. He stood out. His parents then went to school, but not to receive bad news, but to be congratulated, since his son’s performance was exemplary.
Good grades He was so good at studying that he received a scholarship and that softened the economic situation of the house a little, since the resources were not the best. This is confirmed at school. Diego Echavarriawhere he attended primary school, and at the Liceo Cristo Rey, where he finished high school, as well as at the Jaime Isaza Polytechnic, in which he graduated as a public accountant.
“I have many medals, not only those I have won in sports, but also in studying. I liked books, going to school,” said Jhon Jaime, who already has 21 World Cup medals won as a technical director, a great haul. His first bicycle, as expected, was assembled with ‘scraps’ left over from his father’s workshop.
He tried to put the ‘best’ cranks on them, put patches on the tubulars, he tried with what he could find, but of course, it wasn’t for racing. Antonio, who little by little came out of his alcoholism, tried to be a cyclist, but he didn’t succeed. That’s why he instilled in Jhon Jaime to get fully into the sport of cranks and pedals.
The boy accepted, but more to please him, not because it caught his attention, because he liked football more.
“When I was 15 I realized I was giving up. I beat Javier Zapata a road race. It was a circuit in Itagüí, I did it quickly, I was a fast runner and I was given the ticket to enter the San Pío club, which he ran. Mario Franco. We met every Tuesday to go to train,” recalled Jhon Jaime, Yaneth’s husband and Juan Camilo and Emanuel’s father.
The next step was at the departmental level. González had to confirm what he was doing in the check-ins and in the neighborhood races in some big games, but it was not difficult for him, since he dominated the speed tests in the velodrome at will.
Mario ‘Papaya’ Vanegas He was his coach, and alongside Franco Jhon Jaime he improved a lot. He also helped in the selection Antioch I was as a technician Absalon Rinconwho helped him improve.
Partial withdrawal
His results in the national tournaments led him to be part of the Castalia team, which was coached by Hugo Cuartas and Hernán Herrón, knowledgeable about track cycling. Partial retirement Not everything was rosy, because the riders did not earn well and Jhon needed money, which is why he could not dedicate himself fully to cycling.
AfterThe World Cup in Colombia in 1995 González ‘got off the bicycle’, he stopped ‘putting his teeth into it’, he began to work fully in the clothing workshop that his mother set up. There he learned to operate machines and spent his early mornings making garments for third parties. He sewed and sewed, and sometimes he took the bicycle.
The young man was worried about the bicycle, that’s why he didn’t leave it completely. González says that in 1996, Herrón called him and suggested he return to the competition and he did not refuse. “I’m sewing,” he told her.
Without training, Jhon Jaime went to a race and won, that gave him reason to think: if without special training he came first, what would he be if he dedicated himself fully to cycling? He received an offer to go to Japan and he accepted.
In that country the keirin test is very famous, because not only is it a race, but there are bets, juicy figures are handled, which is why it caught Jhon’s attention. He went, he tried it in 1998, it went well, he returned with good money by finishing first in the competition rankings and returned to the country.
The first thing he did was buy his mother a house. She ran one more year in the country, but her form was not ideal.
Diego Palacio, then director of Coldeportes, It opened the doors for him to be a technician. He gave him the opportunity to go study in Europe, and he did so in Barcelona. He had already married and had a son.
To Spain Whenever he has a big challenge in front of him, he calls his brother Humberto; He is a priest, and “he makes the bridge with God and he has not failed me,” he says.
With his blessing he packed his bags and left. He studied sports sciences for seven months, but his life had another surprise for him. Terrorism was a daily occurrence in the country, and a car bomb exploded near his house in Itagüí. He called his wife and told her to leave. Boston (United States), to where Jorge, his brother.
To work
Jhon Jaime González graduated and went to live in USA, next to his family. He forgot about cycling again and worked at a computer parts company.
“The first day they gave me a test. I’m short, and they had me build a computer tower and I had to jump and jump. I thought, ‘This isn’t my thing.’ And I doubted the job, I told my brother that I would not return, but the next day they hired me, it was just a test,” he counted.
I worked from 10 in the morning to six in the afternoon. He was well, comfortable, and his family was living in the best way, but the phone rang: it was Palacio, who told him that he had to return, convinced him to return to the country and appointed him track coach. In 2000 he started it all. From the first day he took the track team he set the goal of winning medals.
To go to the world championships and obtain victory, to fill the country with medals in the Olympic cycle, which he could not achieve when he was a cyclist. Several times he confronted the leaders, technicians and even journalists. His character was like that, he was always upfront, and on some occasions he was accused of being unruly.
“José Julián Velásquez and I were a team, great friends. We saw that we were capable, but those who directed us did not believe. We dream of being world champions. We went as a National Team to participate, but only to that, not to win. It was a fight between us against the world, that’s why those things are said, but it’s not like that,” he defended himself.
Years have passed. Many miles, many passports, flight hours, well-known countries, but Jhon Jaime can say that he has been part of the best history of track cycling in the country, although he has had bad, good and excellent days.
“I need to win an Olympic medal.”
He says that he has not experienced, until now, a worse moment. She assures that there are times when things don’t work out, but everything can be overcome, which is why she strives, every day, to improve.
Bad days
He was disappointed, yes. Not all plans turn out the way he wants and for one reason or another they fail, but for González that is no reason to lower his head, on the contrary, he finds the reason, works and turns the page quickly.
“The day that Martha Bayonaone of his pupils, did not go to the Tokyo Olympics, It was difficult. I didn’t wait for her, I left sad, I left crying. She missed the Games by 17 points. That time she could have been 37, 40 and she was going, but she couldn’t, she didn’t believe it. She didn’t realize it at the time, she didn’t react, but days later no one calmed her down, her crying moved me,” the DT said.
Jhon Jaime González doesn’t stop. He insists on continuing to win. And he has a pending bill, which he wants to pay soon. To fulfill it, days before the Paris Games, he will call Humberto again to bless him and thus begin the journey to achieve the only title that he has not achieved and that keeps him awake: “I need to win an Olympic medal.”
(Colombia National Team: when does it play again in a qualifying round? Rival, time and channel)
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
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