The strength of the shovels, silver award for an ambitious and meticulous woman

Maialen Chourraut, with the race on the canoe more than amortized, has obtained today in the Kasai channel of Tokyo in the final of the K-1 the silver medal to complete the collection after the bronze achieved in London 2012 and the gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016. In its fourth Olympic Games, it has reached the third consecutive final, all successfully and with the only thorn, if it can be called that, to the 16th place it achieved in its first Games in Beijing after being eliminated in the semifinals.

Lasarte-Oria is an example both inside and outside the canoe. Ambitious, hard-working and meticulous as only great champions are, Chourraut has also been a reference for those athletes who have wanted to momentarily put their careers on hiatus to be mothers.

Ane is the strength, the engine, the strokes and the motivation why Maialen Chourraut, together with his coach and partner Xabi Etxaniz, have arrived in Tokyo with a feeling never before had before the Olympic Games. They went to the appointment without the obsession of getting a good result, just with the illusion of doing a good job and giving their daughter a smile that not only the medals give her. However, the commitment of a legend has led to silver being the souvenir that Ane receives when her parents return from Japan on Thursday.

The family always pulls home and this preparation has been different from the previous ones. After fifteen years at La Seu d’Urgell, he has returned home in this Olympic cycle to prepare for the fourth Games in San Sebastián. He has combined the La Concha bay, the facilities of the San Sebastián Athletic Club and the Orthez and Pau canals, the closest to the capital of Gipuzkoa, to train.

What he has lost in comfort due to the facilities offered by the Catalan town, he has gained in affection and accompaniment of his family in a stage that is assumed to be one of the last of his glorious career. However, who does not say that he wants to enlarge his medal table with the Paris Games three years ahead?