“I weigh 101 kilos and I have no fat,” says Saúl Craviotto. The flag bearer of the Spanish delegation in the next Paris Games does not justify himself by the battery of fresh cheese sandwiches that he has just tasted, but rather explains the management of his diet. “I have to rationalize it and understand what fuel my body needs,” he warns. “If I have to do explosive strength work, coordination and a lot of power, what the muscle will need is more protein; and if you are going to do a half marathon, maybe you need more carbohydrates. But I live it without great obsessions. In the end it’s about eating a variety of foods and if from time to time I allow myself a treat, a sweet, nothing happens either.”
A five-time medalist, the canoeist is the most decorated Spaniard in the history of the Games along with David Cal. After qualifying for Paris a week ago, he is now preparing to compete for his sixth medal, on August 8 in the final of the K4 500. This Tuesday, however, he took a break from his training routine and left the Trasona reservoir to attend an event by Burgo de Arias, his sponsor, in Madrid. There he talked about his set-up, one more after a 20-year career at the highest level.
“This is like falling in love with your partner,” he says; “Sometimes you are passionate and you feel that it is what you like the most and there are days when I hate it. Days when I don’t feel like it and I say: ‘what am I doing here?’. Winter days, moments when you are injured, moments of cold, heat, pressure, tension. There are times when I don’t like what I do, but I always put my mind on the purpose. I pass the toll because in general terms I love it. This sport is wonderful. Gliding through the water with the strength of your arms, in contact with nature through rivers, seas, lakes… it is beautiful! But at this level, I go to work and there are hard moments.”
When you get into the funnel, anyone who says they’re not nervous is lying. Everyone arrives there with a dry mouth.
At 39 years old, this Catalan born in Lérida with Andalusian and Italian ancestors, assumes that he is a cerebral guy. Not in vain has he built his career on the ability to coordinate, adjust to the wind and water, and empathetically synchronize with him the other three members of the team that crew his kayak. In his fifth Olympic cycle, he admits that he has had to overcome several crises of vocation to right the ship again.
“It is part of learning. Over time I have learned to manage the nerves, the tension, that laziness that happens to all of us under pressure, when you feel like you have reached the final of the championship and you have spent four years preparing for 30 seconds. When you get into the funnel, anyone who says he’s not nervous is lying. Everyone arrives there with a dry mouth. After a night without sleeping well, no appetite in the morning. That mental control is what makes the difference. When I get ready for the starting system before competing I repeat a phrase a lot: ‘If it’s not me, who?’ If not now when?’. You are alone in the face of danger. Without the coach, without the nutritionist, you alone in your canoeand you have to react.”
“I live in a story,” says the flag bearer of the Spanish delegation, who admits that each Olympic adventure presents him with unexpected challenges. “After London I thought I knew everything. I made a mistake. After Rio I thought there was little to learn. And each cycle has taught me new things. In these years since Tokyo I have learned to enjoy this sport. Much more than before. I don’t feel the pressure as much anymore. It doesn’t mean I don’t take it seriously. Feeling the pressure is good. But I have the feeling that I don’t have to prove anything. I have five medals and although people tell me ‘go for the sixth, go for the sixth!’, if the sixth doesn’t fall, nothing happens. I’m in a phase where I can’t give more. When you give 100% you can’t give more. Now I put everything more into perspective. When I was younger and lost a competition I felt like my world was ending. But this is what sport is, sometimes you win and other times you lose.”
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