Delfina Pignatiello, 125 days before the Olympics: How did she overcome her idea of ​​retiring from swimming and can she fight for a medal at Tokyo 2020?

A year ago, it was a life Delphina Pignatillo Suddenly changed. With a delay Olympic Games, The march was one of the great promises of Argentine sport on a hiatus. Moreover, his future in high performance is jeopardized. Suspending what was supposed to be her ultimate goal was a blow to swimmer’s great desire. It was one step away from Hang the towel.Who left his fledgling career aside.

In the pre-pandemic sports scene, with the times he scored in his recent international appearances, Pignatiello was a candidate to reach the Olympic Final – Ranks the Eight Best Swimmers – At 800 and 1500 meters is freeBackground tests that he specializes in. That’s how good the journey the world junior swimming champion has traveled.

As known InfobaeDelfina A. Strong emotional turmoil after the cancellation of Tokyo 2020. Spending 120 days without touching the water and her inability to train affected her so much that she contemplated retiring in her twenties. A publicly posted notice almost screamed for trying to swim again when the quarantine still lacked the flexibility he had gained over the months.

In South American watersports taking place at the Olympic Park Aquatic Center in Villa Soldati, the same place where she won two silver medals at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018, Delfina was the best in the 800-meter freestyle test and finished second in the 1500-meter race, Behind the experienced Chilean athlete Kristel Kubrich. He also won the 400 freestyle and race It was key for the Argentine national team to win the title again after 55 years.

Faced with this new scenario, the general public might think that Pignatiello is already ready to dream about a medal at the Olympic event that begins on July 23 in the Japanese capital. But The situation is completely different than it was a swimmer in 2019Shortly before the world was paralyzed by a deadly virus.

Just under two years ago, Delfina managed to break the South American record in the 1500-meter race, and up until that point, she had the best test record anywhere in the world.. In the tournament Our sea In Barcelona, ​​Argentina managed to win with a time of 15: 51.68. This record was so good that it allowed her to beat Spanish Olympic medalist and multi-champion Miria Belmonte.

What’s more, with a similar time – at 15 minutes 51 seconds – Pignatiello I would fight on the podium with Chinese Wang in the 2019 World Swimming Championships Which was organized in the Korean city of Gwangju. In this way, she would have ranked among the top eight swimmers in the world in the specialty.

If we talk about the 800 meters, the other test in which it was ranked for the Tokyo 2020 Games – it also has the mark in the free 400 meters – the Delphina situation was very similar a couple of years ago if we analyzed the pre-epidemic markers. A few days before the new record in the year 1500, the swimmer also broke the record for South America: the hours were clocked at 8:24.33 and only surpassed them. Ie KeselyThe Hungarian athlete who snatched the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games. What would Pignatiello have achieved in his last Swimming World Cup with his best time in the 800 meters? He would also have participated in the final test of the class.

This was the panoramic view before the Olympics was halted and postponed to 2021. Today, the times Delfina recorded in her passage at the South American event, her first international competition, are very different.. Get milestones related to work time and current planning moment with his coach Gustavo RoldanHe is also the technical head of the Argentine Swimming Team.

The numbers are clear: Pignatiello won the 800m freestyle from South America with a time of 8: 34.10, nearly 10 seconds from his best mark. In the 1500 competition held last Thursday at the Olympic Park, they were told that Delfina took the test in 16: 25.68 minutes to finish in second place. Your registration It was 34 seconds slower Top brand achieved in mid-2019.

With these parameters, Reality indicates that Pignatiello is still far from the best swimmers in the world in their specialties today. If we take as a reference Katie LedekeFive-time US Olympic champion who just won four golds at Rio 2016, the distance is big. Naturally, this is the case.

For example, on March 6 this year the tournament TYR Pro Swim, Thoughtful Queen of the distance In World Swimming he set a record of 8: 13.64 in the 800 meters. In other words, it was more than 20 seconds faster than a dolphin. Three days earlier, at the same event, Ladyeki won the 1500 m race with a score of 15: 42.92. These are numbers that dictate that the Washington-born swimmer is the number one candidate to return to the top of the Olympic podium.

The situation has been raised. Going forward, Pignatiello will have just over three months to prepare for his Olympic debut. Not alone. Because even though she is the one who dives in the water, she has a team of professionals behind her who helped her reverse this complex scenario. Thanks for working with your psychiatrist Adrian Rizzuto, A bastion of your recovery, and a bastion for your dietitian Lillian GerrardAdded to this for the athlete Delfina Ariart And a physiotherapist Augustine D’AlessandroDelfina’s dream goes on.

Last year, the Argentine sports world feared the worst. Pignatiello analyzed what to do. Self-demands, and always thinking about overcoming himself before every step in his life, helping the professionals and his family, his main drive, were the fortresses that he had to get out of on his feet. He waited a long time to swim again when Claudio Marangoni opened the doors for him in San Isidro to train again, I cried with affection. Certainly, her heart and mind quickly responded to such joy.

Everyone who knows her well knows that Pignatiello must swim to be happy. It is part of his emotional build and ability as a high-performance athlete. So, after being alone for a few days, returning to training with other athletes made her focus again and chose to continue her way. At the end of 2020 he returned to compete in the Argentine tournament held at CeNARD and is now once again the protagonist of the Argentine national team in an international tournament.

While you enjoy doing live broadcasts on your channel Twitch, The broadcast platform par excellence these days, and shortly after signing a contract to be international representatives of a recognized sports brand, Pignatiello is already thinking about what his participation in Tokyo 2020 will look like. “He wants to live games”Someone who knows her said to her like few people Infobae About his renewed Olympic dream.

After being out of the ring for several months and after giving an advantage against rivals in Europe, Asia or the United States, who have continued to train at a different pace in the pandemic, Delphina has a goal. And he says so honestly. “I hope my best release is the one that arrives in Tokyo.”.

In a flexible position, one of those in abundance in Argentine sports, but this has a double value for the youth of the cause, The fabulous appearance of the national swimmer in recent times walks with a smile. Which reappeared after representing the colors she carries in her heart. Of course, he will go to Japan to compete. What will happen at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in 125 days? The future is uncertain, but at the same time his optimism is growing. What is certain is that Delfina will live an unparalleled experience for the rest of her career as a swimmer and forever in her life.

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