Maialen Chourraut completes the collection: Olympic silver in Tokyo!

eternal. Legend. Simply Maialen Chourraut... The bravest of all, the tireless worker, the humble and silent medalist who every four years - this time five - brings joy to the Spaniards, the one who lives subscribed to the Olympic podium, the one who makes it seem easy what is really complicated... Three medals in the last three Games, one of each colour. In London 2012 she hung the bronze, in Rio the gold and today, in Tokyo, the silver. She completes the Olympic collection of hers. Three medals in four Games. An atrocity.

The legend began to be forged today under a blazing sun, despite the announced 'Nepartak' typhoon, which only made an appearance with a light rain at the beginning of the morning, Chourraut signed an impeccable descent to win the silver in K1 slalom with a time of 106.63. on the tricky Kasai canoe channel. As soon as she knew it was a medal, she lowered her mask, she looked at the camera and it was the dedication for Ane, her 8-year-old daughter who accompanied her in Rio five years ago but who could not be present this time due to restrictions of the pandemic. The kisses she blew after the descent were also for her. "Ane knows the effort involved in being here, the way, and she puts a lot of her part to make it easier for me. I can't wait to go home and see my little girl," she confessed with a smile that lit up her face .

As she had achieved the seventh fastest time in the semifinals, she finished third in the final, which is disputed by 10. She had to follow on television, at the foot of the channel, what the rest were doing. She was smiling but the procession was inside. As soon as she secured the metal, Xabi Etxaniz, her coach and her husband, and Pau, his son from a previous relationship, also a canoeist and one of the channel's 'openers' at these Games, ran towards her. The three of them merged in a heartfelt embrace before launching themselves into the channel. They celebrated it in the water, the medium in which Mailen has become eternal. She had just won the third Spanish medal in Tokyo. The gold went to the German Ricarda Funk (105.50) and the bronze to the Australian Jessica Fox (102.73), the great favorite who continues to resist Olympic glory.

Olympic gold weight

"I have dreamed of this medal many times and he always told me: 'I don't need the gold, I already have it.' they have to be distributed among everyone. He also confessed that this time he came to the Games to enjoy himself, not obsessed with the medal as happened in Rio, after a cycle marked by physical problems and the change of canoe. "Olympic gold has heavy these years", he admitted with sincerity.

The former Olympic champion in Rio, who entered history for being the first Olympic gold for Spanish whitewater canoeing and the first Spanish Olympic champion after being a mother, has come to these Games after overcoming dizziness and severe pain in the ribs they brought her down the street of bitterness but she is one of those who grow in the face of adversity and in addition to overcoming physical problems she also recovered from the loss of confidence derived from them.

For days, she traded the cold, rough water of the canal for the heated pool to overcome her fears. Inside the kayak, wearing diving goggles and nose clips, Maialen faced hour and a half sessions in which she flipped out of the canoe and regained her verticality to continue fighting her fears.

She also had to change her kayak, since after the Rio 2016 Games, the International Canoeing Federation limited the size of those fins and thus invalidated the kayak that the Spaniard had always used. Finding a new one was not an easy task either.

a very hard cycle

All these stones on the road are what have made her stronger and brought out the fighting Maialen, who knew little about that bronze in London 2012, who later wanted to be a mother and win an Olympic gold in Rio when both things seemed incompatible and proved that they were not, the one that has had to overcome vertigo problems.

Back to the origins

After her confinement, she returned to San Sebastian to be close to her family again "and our origins". They had considered doing it after the Tokyo Games, 2020, but when they were extended for another year, they made the decision.

He returned to the Atlético de San Sebastián club, to Urumea, to the Bidasoa river... He had not trained there since he moved to Seu d'Urgell in 2009. where do you go now Chourraut will return home with one more medal and become a legend.