Ariel Suárez, the rower who returned to training despite not being authorized: "I had an impressive feeling of freedom"

Luciana Aranguiz

08/10/2020 - 19:33

• Clarín.com
• sports

Ariel Suárez had warned: "If football returns to training, so will I." And he fulfilled. The rower, Olympic finalist in London 2012 and two-time Pan American champion in Lima 2019, threw his boat in the Luján River on Monday and did his first outdoor training , after five months without touching the water due to the quarantine that has been in force since March in Argentina for the coronavirus pandemic. As he did not have the official authorization to row again, a certificate was drawn up for him for breach of the mandatory social isolation rules . But he still ended the day with a smile on his face. "I'm tired, but calm. I had an impressive sense of peace and freedom," he told Clarín.

To comply with the protocol of his sport, which has already been approved by the national health authorities, Suárez arrived alone with his boat to a public descent in Tigre and when he came into contact with the water for the first time, he was overwhelmed with emotion and left to cry . But he quickly recovered and was able to enjoy a long training session, as he had not been able to for several months.

"It was an immense joy, the same joy that the person who paddles feels every time he enters the water. At first I was very nervous, because of everything that was happening and everything that surrounded this lap. But once I got on the boat and I began to row, I began to enjoy everything. I felt a terrible pleasure and tranquility. When I was rowing through the Villanueva channel, I felt an enormous peace. The meters were passing and my head was calming down and completely disconnecting from everything ", said the athlete, who was part of the quadruple par and the eight without a helmsman who achieved two golds in the Pan-American event last year. 

Happy!!! pic.twitter.com/5bWae5rCWO

Of course, so many months without being able to row took their toll. Although during the "confinement", the San Fernando-born continued to train at home, physical work is not the same as that performed in water. "I hadn't realized the physical condition I have now. One thing is to be at home and train, because over 150 days, you do what you can, you have good days and bad days ... But when you were rowing, you arrived a moment when I said 'I'm tired.' (Laughter) And it was because of that lack of water, that's why we enjoyed a lot, "he said.

-What were you thinking about on the way from your house to the descent to the river? Were you nervous about what you might encounter upon arrival?

-It was very crazy because I saw the people from Tigre going around in the trucks, the people from Costas going around, two helicopters ... There was a lot of movement, like never before, and I think they were seeing where it was going to come from. I felt nervous. I was thinking: "I hope they let me throw the boat into the water, let me touch the water and don't stop me before." It's not that I was hidden, but I was like hoping they wouldn't see me until I put the boat on the water. Luckily I was able to do it and I was able to enjoy something that I love very much.

-You shared a photo on Twitter with Prefectura staff. Was there a problem with them?

-No, all good. They did their job, all with great respect. After training, when I was approaching the coast to leave, the Prefectura boat appeared. We approached a public descent and there they called their superiors, who asked me for authorization to go rowing and told me that they had to draw up a certificate for non-compliance, as expected. I told them it was perfect. That was it.

Here with the prefecture friends !!! pic.twitter.com/18Gi3Iq8nl

-What will happen now with the minutes? Are you worried that it will generate a problem for you in the future?

-To be honest I have no idea. They told me that a judge was going to contact me, that's what I know. But I don't care. The feeling of freedom that I experienced on top of the boat is much stronger than what could happen.

Suárez, fourth with Cristian Rosso in the double pair at the London 2012 Games, had already warned last week that if Argentine football returned to training this Monday - as it finally happened - he would also return to the water, although there was no received the official authorization. The reason? He did not understand that an activity involving many players, who have contact with each other, and not rowing, in which practice would be resumed according to protocol, in individual boats, was given the green light. "In the water, there is no possibility of contagion," he had said.

On Sunday, he joined a group of representatives from various sports - tennis, golf, athletics, gymnastics, paddle tennis, boating and sailing - who demanded in front of Quinta de Olivos the opening of the quarantine for their disciplines, and confirmed that nothing had would change your mind.

Preparing everything for tomorrow to be in the water again, just like crazy bad, but as happy as the first day ... if football returns, me too ... pic.twitter.com/vigXqLtl5J

- At some point, did the Association of Rowers ask you not to go out on Monday to row so as not to cause problems in the qualification process?

-No one told me not to. I did communicate it to the association so that they were aware, but when I had already made the decision. Like, I always said:"I am not going to leave any institution because I do not want to cause problems to anyone." I did it on my own, as one more person, like Ariel Suárez, without involving any institution.

For this reason, he chose to throw the boat in a public descent and not in that of a club, such as Teutonia de Tigre, in which he usually trains and carries out with Francisco Esteras, another member of the national team, the RowFit program of classes rowing for seniors, which he followed via Zoom during his quarantine.

-Are you going to continue training regularly or are you going to wait a few days to see if the official authorization finally arrives?

-I hope they start to consciously enable all the sports that are endorsed with protocol. But tomorrow (for this Tuesday) I will be training again. I said it: as long as football continues, I will continue. It still doesn't enter my head, I can't understand why they enabled this sport and not rowing and others. They have no more right than me and I am convinced of that.

FK