Paula Pareto spoke out on her social networks regarding the comments they left her regarding her body image. La Peque tells in her stories what a day in her life is like, showing her moments of activation, training and even the connections she makes by means of transportation to fulfill all her work obligations.
Tired of receiving out of place comments, Paula Pareto wrote on her personal Instagram a letter of relief about the sayings that people leave her from the other side of the cell phone.
“Because of comments like these I hid my body throughout my childhood and adolescence”La Peque began her letter. “But I continued my process, because I knew that the physical was just the decantation of a daily job that had a goal”he continued.
“That goal was achieved and it not only made me happy, but also my entire great work team.” That goal, transformed into a gold medal in Rio 2016, just to cite some of her feats in judo, completely changed the paradigm of women’s sports in the country.
Respected by her own and others, Paula is an example on and off the tatami. One of the best Argentine athletes of all time, continues to feel insecurities with her body, because of other people’s words.
«Comparisons in general are not good, much less body comparisons, since you have to understand that each athlete is a particular individual, and based on that, work to enhance their confidence, their attitude, their ability to visualize themselves achieving sports goals. Generalizations regarding aesthetics (very tall, very skinny) for a certain sport end up harming the attitude to perform in it, often generating conditioning.», commented Victoria Funessports psychologist, in this note.
Once again, it must be clarified that bodies are just that, and that there are no stereotypes for playing sports. A healthy body is an active, rested, well-nourished and hydrated body. Regardless of “what it looks like,” as long as it is the body that the athlete needs to compete, it is enough.
Sport in its empirical conception has always praised muscular bodies, attaching to them manliness, strength, speed, capacity and endurance; fundamental standards to be part of the Olympic elite. Over the years, access to sporting activity has diversified. This brought forth countless bodies that deviated from the norm, breaking records and barriers, overcoming perfect body stereotypes and demonstrating with numbers and performance that the important thing is not what you see, but what you can do. It will be time to vindicate the effort, without betting on body comparison as the only way to defend talent.
