Paula Pareto, in pure emotion after retirement: 'The flag was a great shield every time I got on the tatami'

Hernan Sartori

07/26/2021 1:25 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/26/2021 1:25 AM

The student turned on the computer,

clicked

on the

Zoom

link,

and soon saw her exam table on the screen. Everything learned during three years was put into play at that time. The round trip did not slacken. It was logical. One theme here, another there ... Done. Habemus a new doctor specializing in Traumatology.

Her name is Paula Belén Pareto, she approved the last final in Sakai and a few days later she said goodbye to the sport in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“I have a month and a half left in the residence at the Hospital de San Isidro.

The last partial I had given before traveling to Japan and thanks to virtuality I was able to remotely give the end of the upper three-year course of the specialty.

I finished a stage in medicine and my sports career.

Now new ones will come

”, says this study specimen.

Sleep well.

She is listened to with that calm tone that has always accompanied her.

He is in the Olympic Village without knowing when he will return to Argentina.

I was going to return this Monday, but the flight was suspended.

The new normal.

Tomorrow will be seen.

Now is the time to listen to

the legend of Argentine sports

, who reveals his feelings in the remote chat with

Clarín

and begins to envision his plans.

“

Do you know all the things I have to do because I was putting them off?

Nothing from the empty nest, heh. What's more, I think that in sports I gave up everything and even took the dog and the doorknobs. I had nothing saved, ”he explains. Now it's my turn to open the attic door. The one in that place where you throw everything you can't do.

I have to open it and accommodate the kilombo.

Luckily there will be time during the quarantine. "

Always used to being hyperactive and going from one place to another in search of new challenges, Paula does not know how to be quiet.

“My friends asked me if I am going to feel a void with retirement.

If I have nothing, I look for it.

If not, it wouldn't be me.

This is my life.

That is why Paulita is now going to do a new course and has other projects ”, confesses the one interested in sports medicine and upper limbs.

Laura Martinel

, her coach, is no longer surprised.

Paula Pareto, in the warm-up in Tokyo.Photo EFE

The body will clearly be the recipient for a long time to come.

It's time to pit after a long career in a contact sport.

“I have been postponing a necessary surgery since January, because

it would not suit me if certain pains become chronic at 35 years of age

.

Sheet metal and paint to have a stable life as a normal person ", he says, although that of" normal "nobody believes it.

“High performance is sometimes not health and there is a life ahead.

We are used to handling a high pain threshold, he acknowledges.

And I understand the doctors who told me how I trained with what they saw in the study they did to me.

It is the moment to listen to them and repair the body, because there is a post-sport life

”.

The athlete Paula has come to an end.

His legacy will be eternal.

Beyond having climbed to every podium she dreamed of, having been a world champion and having established herself as the first Olympic gold medalist in Argentine history, her example rings out.

He is no stranger to those who admire sports but especially the gift of people.

And the International Olympic Committee understood this when it chose her to represent America when it comes to carrying the flag of the five rings at the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020.

Paula Pareto, with the Olympic flag AFP photo

"Since it was proposed to me, I could not believe it, because

I know it is a great recognition and a great honor," he

admits.

I did not expect such a surprise.

Anyway, I did not fall much because I came to compete.

He would tell me:

'Take it easy, I'll do this little walk and I'll go to sleep quickly and I'll compete the next day

.'

-As if you were going to do the shopping at the last minute ...

- (laughs) We talked about it a lot and we thought it was going to be a nice recognition.

Something that does not always happen.

An honor that no one in Argentina had had and that few athletes will have.

But the next day I was competing, huh.

-What did you feel?

-Since I entered, the first thing I did was see where the Argentines were.

It was still easy to locate them.

They were the ones who were yelling, heh.

We are so Argentine that I love it.

Where I heard screams, I looked.

They sure were there.

And they were.

It was a lovely moment.

And just when I came back I found myself on the bus with

Ceci

and

Santi

(Carranza Saroli and Lange, the flag bearers).

He will never forget the corridor that his compatriots set up for him when he arrived at the Olympic Village after his last dance on the tatami.

Applause, hugs and kisses with masks.

A tribute from their peers, those who know what it means to dedicate themselves

full time

to sport.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pau Pareto 🇦🇷 (@paupareto)

The tribute of their peers

“

What they did is worth gold.

I did not expect so much affection.

You don't size it.

It would not be the same happiness if this had come after winning another medal.

Now he feels a lot more and that makes him a lot crazier.

Here everyone was happy, "he says with joy.

-What was the weirdest thing you ever experienced?

-People I don't know approached me.

The Uruguayans came and congratulated me.

I used to say to Laura:

“Why do you congratulate me if this time I didn't win a medal?

Something strange is happening

.

"

Even from other buildings they began to scream.

And some Italians who share ours leaned out onto the balconies and waved.

I still had the thorn from the competition, but they found a quick way to make me forget it.

-You know why they congratulate you: medals without values ​​are useless ...

-Look, if it wasn't clear to me, they made me understand.

It is very clear that a result goes further, which this time did not arrive.

And it is even more beautiful, because the hugs they gave me are one of those well felt.

Not a champion hug.

It's cute and it makes you excited.

The support is worth more when the bad ones come.

-Why do you keep asking for forgiveness for not having achieved a medal in your last Games?

-It's that friends told me:

"We got together to see you

.

"

And many have no idea about judo, huh.

Imagine: they got together like I used to get together to see the National Team.

For judo!

I know they do it because we Argentines live that way and that is why I would have liked to give them joy at the meeting.

It did not arrive.

Paula Pareto, before one of the fights in Tokyo Photo EFE

The greeting and the kiss

Two images will be indelible: his last greeting on the tatami before going down the ladder and the kiss to the Argentine flag of his judogi.

“The greeting implies respect for the creator of judo, for oneself and for the opponent.

I knew it was the end and I didn't forget to do it, ”explains Paula.

And the kiss to the blue and white?

“I never planned any celebration.

He fought and if he won, what came out came out.

Clever.

I kissed the flag because all Argentines and my work team are in it.

The flag was a great shield every time I went to the tatami.

It gave me strength ”, he moved when he told it.

He is from the other side of the world, but that does not imply that he is unaware of what he generated during his career and that he was enhanced by announcing his retirement.

On his Instagram account, the video that he uploaded with his arrival at the Olympic Village had just over

500,000 views

.

And his last post with the farewell generated at least 106,000

likes

and 5,000 messages.

“

I swear to you, I am moved by the level of encouragement and love that I receive.

I can not believe it.

I can't stop answering messages from acquaintances and strangers.

All with a terrible good energy.

Thus it is impossible not to be happy -he acknowledges-.

I expected the same 200 messages from when I won a medal and now I am sad that I cannot read them all.

I would love to answer each one with how cute they are ”.

They.

The hug felt between Paula Pareto and her coach Laura Martinel Photo EFE

His coach was very sensitive.

“Poor thing, she says it's from happiness.

It is that with retirement we finished a very nice stage -he admits-.

It is a sea of ​​emotions.

I am still worse than ever.

I do not know if it is old age, retirement or the pandemic.

Or that

Lau

infected me.

We are all more sensitive, but she is easy to tear. "

Paula Pareto earned the respect of her rivals for her career and her way of being.

That is why the Japanese

Funa Tonaki

was concerned if he had hurt her with that lever on her left elbow that he did in the quarterfinals.

And that is why the Portuguese

Catarina Costa

reacted in a very peculiar way when she found out about Argentina's withdrawal.

“She is a very good girl and since she studies medicine,

she tells me that I am her image to follow

.

He gave me a T-shirt from Portugal.

It's very nice -said

La Peque

-.

And he wrote to me:

'Are you really retiring?

Am I going to be able to tell everyone that your last fight was with me?

That honor!'

”.

It was a real honor, Paula.

HS

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Paula Pareto, legend: how she came to carry the Olympic flag at the opening party of the Tokyo 2020 Games

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