Tokyo 2020: all the pain of Belén Casetta, who could not improve her time this year and was eliminated

07/31/2021 10:26 PM

• Clarín.com

• sports

• sports Center

Updated 07/31/2021 10:45 PM

Argentina's Belén Casetta finally debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but did not have the performance she had come for.

In the 3,000 meter hurdles, the Mar del Plata

finished 12th among the 14 competitors

in the first heat of this event in the Japanese morning.

He set a time of 9:

52s89

and then,

through tears, he told that he had suffered a problem

in his right leg.

"

My right calf grabbed me

. That's it, it's races. When I got rid of the peloton ... that's it, I wanted to finish it. I had no problem, it just grabbed me, things that happen in the race," he told TyC Sports minutes after finishing the athletics competition, trying to maintain her composure, although finally the tears of helplessness would overcome her.

Because of course, he was

far from meeting his own expectations.

If the idea was to try to get into the final, with his twelfth place immediately that possibility was flat.

Another goal that athletes often set is to improve their own records.

And it couldn't be either.

Belen Casetta in action.

Photo REUTERS / Aleksandra Szmigiel

Because with the 9m52s89 in which the clock stopped, Belén was

far from her best mark, the 9m25s99

she did in 2017 in London.

He couldn't even get close to his best time this year,

9:45:79

in Guayaquil last May.

"I don't know what to attribute it to, because we made downloads ... These are things that happen, you don't decide when they catch you, you don't say 'cramp today or tomorrow'".

At that time, it was already difficult for him to continue speaking in the attention to the press.

The physical pain but especially the interior was winning the battle for the appearance of that annoyance

at the most inopportune moment.

"My right calf contracted and I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to finish it. I feel angry because it just happened here. So much sacrifice.

All of this is stressful. Nerves every day so that you don't test positive. I want to go home. and forget about all this,

"he added later, in a mixed zone.

"I don't know, I don't know.

It's just a rage,

" concluded the Argentine, who left with the impotence of not being able to have a great second Olympic Game in this Tokyo 2020.