The reasons for the 'resurrection' of gymnast Jossimar Calvo

Colombia is fighting to get two places for the 2024 Olympic Games in artistic gymnastics, with its two best exponents: Jossimar Calvo and Ángel Barajaswho are fighting today at the World Cup in Cottbus (Germany), and are waiting for the last two competitions to find out if they qualify.

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The two achieved the bronze medal last weekend at the Cairo World Cup, the first in parallel bars and the second in the fixed, the first step towards Paris 2024.

Calvo and Barajas, under the command of coach Jairo Ruiz, are the present and the future of this sport in the country, but the story of the former is worth highlighting as he was 'erased from the map' due to very serious shoulder injuries.

The 29-year-old from Cucuta burst into national and world gymnastics back in 2011, when at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara he became the first athlete in that discipline in the country to win a gold, when he did so on the parallel bars.

At the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games, Calvo broke gymnastics history in two, as he was the first Colombian gymnast to win three golds.
He qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016, but his career began to take a nosedive. His mother, Nohora, died in 2018 and he was left alone. She almost didn't get up from the hard blow. Then, injuries and subsequent operations on both shoulders left him on the canvas, on the verge of leaving the sport, of giving up, but he didn't. He had a tough time between 2019 and 2022.

“First there was the left shoulder injury, that stopped us for too long. Then, the one on the right. Both were corrected with surgeries and that misplaced us. We thought we were going to lose him, but he's back. He is at his level again,” he told EL TIEMPO Ruiz, from Germany.

Jossimar Calvo has always been a man of few words. He hardly likes to talk, much less give an interview. Rather, he gets fully involved in his private life, which he enjoys with Valeria, his daughter, who had a lot to do with this difficult process, since she always thought of giving him a good example.

“He was not well due to his injuries and he collapsed because he did not compete, but the truth is that he has recovered and we have him fighting for the podiums,” Ruiz said.

Before the Colombian National Team's trip to Europe, Calvo, on his social networks, asked for help, since the Colombian Gymnastics Federation had problems raising the money for the trip because the payment of the allowance from the Ministry of Sports has not been made. for 2024.

The Federation made a great effort, paying for the tickets and the hotel with reserve money and with the help of the leagues the travel expenses were canceled, but Calvo was almost left without competing.

The group concentrated in Medellín because the Cúcuta coliseum, where the group normally trains, is not in operation.

You have to believe it

Jorge Hugo GiraldoCalvo's predecessor, a Colombian gymnast who achieved great victories, accompanied the group for some days at that concentration.

“I was very doubtful. I told him that you go through a lot of bad times and that you can recover. And I did gymnastics until I was 37 and he is very young and he can do two more Olympic cycles,” Giraldo said.

For the athlete based in Texas (United States), the key to being competitive again after serious injuries and several operations is the mental part.
“Gymnastics is physically and mentally exhausting. I experienced it and Calvo was coming back from an injury, but I told him to commit, that he should prioritize gymnastics and he did. That must be valued a lot, it is not easy to get up from such complicated moments,” said Jorge Hugo Giraldo.

He points out that the important thing was to have had the support of his family, friends and the psychological part that they handled him.

“When you are injured, sick or doing poorly you have to be strong. When he had the injury he had a very high level, but he falls and is difficult to get up. When I spoke with Calvo he was under financial and family pressure, but look, he has good advisors. The thing is that when the titles are not revalidated, then the support is withdrawn and one is left in the air because he thinks about the money he needs. “She believed it and came back,” Giraldo said.

The last time Calvo stood on the podium in a World Cup was in Slovenia, in 2017, he was second on the parallel bars.

Ruiz and Giraldo agree that based on what Calvo and Barajas have demonstrated, Colombia can be excited about the Paris Olympic Games.

“The real options to qualify are here, in those cups. If we are in the top 8 in Germany, we would be scoring and we would have 50 percent of the competition. There we will have an overview to elucidate the options,” said the DT.

“The focus has to be one hundred percent, you cannot look at the other side. It is not easy, it is the sum of the points from four cups and there are only two,” said the now gymnastics coach in the United States.

Jossimar Calvo is another. He has overcome the adversities of life, he has overcome those pair of shoulder surgeries and now he is not only looking for the first places in the rankings, but he longs to return to the Olympics.

LISANDRO RENGIFO
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@LisandroAbel​

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