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In Rio 2016 canoeing was the great sport of reference for the Spanish medal table and the canoeists of our country want it to remain that way in Tokyo 2020. One of the great ones of this sport is Saúl Craviotto, who is already focused on the next Olympic date but without forgetting the steps that must be taken before.

In fact, the first thing has been to get into the Spanish K4 for the European Championship and the World Cup in a selective that has been very close and in which four paddlers linked to the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) have finally entered: Saul Craviotto, Marcus Cooper, Cristian Toro and Rodrigo Germade.

Craviotto has been this Saturday at the Los Jerónimos Campus of the UCAM and has taken the opportunity to review the current issues and their next objectives.

The first, the continental appointment: "We have the European Championship in just over a month and we are already very mentalized, this season is already very close to the moments when we will have to look for the qualification for Tokyo and we have to put our batteries".

At the moment, it seems that the coupling of the new crew is not any problem: "With the K4 coordination plays a very important role, luckily, in the team is Cristian Toro with whom I got the gold in Rio." Marcus Cooper , which was also gold and with which I have joined very quickly and Germade is also world champion, it is a very easy to join K4 and we are very excited and eager, we have incredible potential but at the start no one asks the curriculum so we must prove it every day. "

Although the Games are still far away and new selective will have to pass, Craviotto assures that everything that is being done adds: "This year is a transitional one, although it is already becoming important, thinking of Tokyo will have to focus on next year's World Cup. In any case, we want to hit the table and show that we aspire to everything. "

Now international appointments come but the first step has been to win the position in K4.

Craviotto says it has been the hardest year to get it since he's in the national team: "I've been in this for many years and the level I'm seeing after Rio is brutal." To get to a K4, with four paddlers, we have passed it fatal because we are seven or eight canoeists that we are barely one thousandths in. That is good because it shows the great competitiveness and level of Spain although it has its bad point because we are stressed all day ".

In what has no problems the quadruple Olympic medalist is at the time of facing challenges and that everyone expects the most of it.

The experience is a step in his favor: "There is always pressure, it is something that elite athletes live in. In London I already had pressure because I came from being an Olympic champion in Beijing, in Rio I had two medals and now in Tokyo Everyone expects me to go for the fifth medal, we have to get into a bubble and isolate ourselves from that pressure, I'm training hard and I'm going to give everything to get it. "

The fifth Olympic medal would tie him in number of metals with another myth of Spanish canoeing, also linked to the UCAM, David Cal: "We have joked about it, but my goal is not to go for David Cal. I think of myself and What I have done is much more than what I dreamed of when I started in. David Cal is number one, the best Spanish athlete of all time, for me and for all Spanish Olympism he is a reference ".

"The values ​​that sport has forged have helped me in life"

It is also undeniable that in recent months it has gained much more relevance in the media thanks to its passage through a famous cooking program: "As a result of being in Master Chef, it is true that I have taken a media leap, I value it in a positive way. and I do not regret anything because thanks to this program has been known more canoeing and people have known me a little more to me and my sport.

In addition, he was proclaimed winner in that program, in which he applied much of what he had learned with so many years of sacrifice in the dugout canoe: "The values ​​that sport has forged have helped me in everything in life. draw a plan and fight to get it, that's what canoeing has taught me, it has helped me manage the pressure, the nerves, the sport is positive because of its values ​​and the habits it inculcates. "

Source: UCAM / Foto: Nabil Ejey - UCAM)