Euphoric after winning the Olympic medal that she had been chasing for half her life, the Spanish halfpipe snowboard star feels strong enough to attend her sixth Games
He’s been chasing this medal for half his life and now he has it. Since she made her debut at the Olympic Games in Turin in 2006, she had been pining for this dream that has just come true 16 years later. In Beijing 2022, and after five Winter Games, the Catalan Queralt Castellet finally won an Olympic medal, silver, in halfpipe snowboarding this Thursday. With a coronavirus-proof concentration, Castellet managed to get on the podium only behind the American champion Chloe Kim, who revalidates her Olympic throne. And, most importantly, ahead of the Japanese Sena Tomita, who took the bronze, and the Chinese Cai Xuetong, world champion in 2015 and 2017 and one of the main contenders for the medal for competing at home.
Veteran of the Winter Olympic Games and flag bearer twice, the last one last week at ‘El Nido’ in Beijing, Castellet puts the finishing touch to a brilliant career by giving Spain its first medal in this event and the fifth in its history in these competitions. After making her debut at the 2006 Turin Winter Games, where she finished in 26th place, she climbed positions in Vancouver 2010 (twelfth) and Sochi 2014 (eleventh) until finishing seventh and obtaining an Olympic diploma in Pyeongchang 2018. An upward progression that has concluded with this silver in Beijing 2022. Even before hanging it around his neck, he attends this medium in the Olympic Village in the Zhangjiakou mountains, home to most of the snow events 180 kilometers northwest of Beijing.
-Question: Congratulations on this medal, for which you have been fighting for half your life. How does she feel right now?
-Answer: I am super happy, excited, very happy. Wow, it’s amazing! It is a life dedicated to this and, after so much work and effort, I cannot be more satisfied with having achieved this goal.
-Q.: After your experience in the four previous Games, in which the medal always eluded you, did you ever think that you were not going to achieve it?
-R.: No. The truth is that I was not going to stop fighting until the medal fell.
Happiness
“It’s a life dedicated to this and, after so much work and effort, I couldn’t be more satisfied”
-Q.: How did you experience this final and what was your strategy?
-R.: In the first round they deducted a lot from me for a problem that shouldn’t have penalized me so much, considering that the beginning of the round was very technical. Although I had a problem that was really insignificant because I fell a little, I think I have been deducted too much. There I have doubted a little and that has made me reconsider that it does not matter what the judges score. Anyway, I think they gave me strength to improve in the second round. That’s how I found the strength to do what I wanted in the second round and they gave me a good score.
-P.: That second round, sensational, is the one that has given him the money.
-R.: Instead of doing what I wanted in the first one, which was more difficult, I opted for an aerial to get more speed and make the highest 9. I like to do tricks with height, so I knew that it would benefit me. I have done it and they liked it more, so they have scored me well.
centered
-Q.: Did you see silver in danger in the third round?
-R.: The truth is that I have not seen any of the rivals because I had to focus on my own and look only at what I was doing. At the end of the third round I was left with little speed because it is a tube that really punishes you a lot if you do not land perfectly with the tricks. Fortunately, the second heat was enough because the most important thing today was to maintain the speed to have height around the entire round.
fight for gold
“If the third round had gone the way I wanted, I think I would have been very, very close to Chloe Kim”
-Q.: Did you see yourself with the possibility of taking the gold from Chloe Kim?
-R.: She has also suffered nerves, but she has been lucky to iron the first round and that has given her a lot of points. But hey, I guess we were there too in the end, huh? If the third round had gone the way I wanted, I think she would have been very, very close.
-Q.: Did you see your medal or even the podium in danger in the third round?
-R.: Yes, with Cai Xuetong and with the four Japanese women, who were very strong and all had medal chances. We have seen that the level is very high and the positions have not been decided until the last moment.
-P.: The last time you competed in China it didn’t go too well. What has changed so that everything is so different this time?
-R.: The wind is what most affects this tube and, so that it does not blow so much, they have put up a canvas. Although the first day we had a lot of wind and we noticed it, these last few days the weather has been very good. The wind, which is what most affects us all in this discipline, has punished us less. Although we can control visibility, snow and other factors, the wind is something that is out of our hands and can cause you to lose control.
Celebration
«Now I only think about enjoying this medal»
-Q.: What are your plans now?
-R.: The first thing, to return to the US, which is where I had my base in Colorado, and collect all my things before heading back to Spain to celebrate with my family and friends. Now I only think about enjoying this medal.
-Q.: With 32 years and this Olympic silver, is this the finishing touch to your career before retiring?
-R.: Retire? If I’m at my best! How can I not continue? Now we have to enjoy and take advantage of this moment to continue stronger.
-Q.: Are you considering going to other Games then?
-R.: Yes, yes, whatever comes.
