MADRID, 6 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish athlete Adrián Ben has assured that he waited for “the right moment” to spend his “bullet” in the 800-meter final of the European Indoor Track in Istanbul, in which he was proclaimed continental champion, and has affirmed that the midfielder level Spanish “is going to more” because all athletes help “mutually”.
“We can say that we have the world indoor champion, the European outdoor champion -both Mariano García- and the European indoor champion, so it can be seen that the level of the Spanish 800 is getting better. we help each other,” he told the press upon his arrival at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport.
Regarding the race, the Galician explained that it was “a very high-level final, quite open”. “The rivals were some of the toughest I’ve ever had. In that last lap we were able to make a good change and take the gold medal,” he said. “I go out reserved to make my career and not the one that others force. I wanted to avoid, above all, blows, so I looked for the right moment to spend my bullet”, he added.
In this sense, he recalled that he is not “an athlete who goes out very quickly” and that he tried to make his career. “There were three races, a lot of fatigue in the body and I tried to reserve and start as comfortable as possible. I saw that everyone started like a bullet, without getting very nervous I placed myself at the back of the pack and once we had passed the equator of the test I looked for the positions in front. When there were 200 meters left I said ‘it’s now or never’; once there were 50 meters left I saw that I was capable of passing the Frenchman and I said ‘I’m going to two meters with everything I have'”, he expressed.
“An Olympic Games final that no one has ever reached, a World Championship final after 29 years… speaks to the difficulty of the 800m event at an international level. Everyone wants to reach those finals, there are times that we will achieve it and times that we will not, but we continue at the foot of the canyon training hard to achieve this gold and many more to come”, he continued.
The one from Viveiro also explained his tears after becoming champion. “I collapsed because I remembered all my people, who have supported me so much for so many years. Athletics is an individual sport but there is a lot behind each athlete. In my case, I bet everything on coming to Madrid almost seven years ago 600 kilometers from my house, giving up friends and family, to get these things,” he said.
“I have not made the greatest efforts, my parents have made them. As in Viveiro we did not have an athletic track, they had to do 100 kilometers there and 100 kilometers back, sacrificing their afternoons, so that their son could put on athletic shoes and train on a track. If I am where I am today it is because my parents have allowed me to,” he stressed.
In another order of things, Ben revealed that he is already thinking about the Outdoor World Cup in Budapest, which will be held in August. “I’m going to have a few days off at home and I’ll start preparing for the Outdoor World Cup. We were already finalists two years ago, last year it didn’t go as expected by 13 hundredths, and this year we have a lot of motivation to go for a medal , and for gold too,” he said.
Lastly, he considered “a bit unfair” to talk about the discreet role of the Spanish team in Istanbul, because he believes that it “has fought to the maximum”. “We have had a bit of bad luck with those fourth places, which with little would have become four more medals. The attitude has been very good, we have supported each other like the great pineapple that we are, and I have felt very supported and It has given me a lot of strength,” he concluded.
