Queralt Castellet: “An Olympic medal is an illusion, it has never been an obsession”

The Spanish ‘rider’ Queralt Castellet made it clear that winning an Olympic medal “has never been an obsession but something good and an illusion” and that her silver in the Beijing 2022 snowboarding ‘Halfpipe’ helps her have a “greater motivation” looking to the future, without ruling out participating in his sixth Olympic Games in 2026 as long as he “does not stop learning”.

“An obsession is a completely negative word, a medal is a good thing and that’s not what it is, it’s an objective, an illusion, it only has positive attributes that can only help you learn and do better,” Castellet said this Wednesday at the conference. press conference at the COE headquarters after arriving from Beijing.

Sabadell recalled that the Games “are completely different” from any other competition, “with a different type of pressure, environment, environment.” “These are factors that can affect the pace you can take, although they are all a completely different fight. The Olympic medal has never been an obsession, I have always gone to all the competitions with the aim of doing my best ‘riding’ and thinking that so I can get it,” he said.

“In the end, it was a goal I had had since I was a child and although I have reaped many achievements and medals along this path, I didn’t have an Olympic medal and there is nothing that makes me happier than having achieved this goal because there are people who achieve it and people no,” he added.

The Catalan stressed that she has put “everything” and that she continues to “do” to get “the best” of herself to “represent that effort and values” that her sport has taught her. “Now I’m looking forward to really enjoying that achievement and it’s the best way to get the most motivation to continue the course I’m on,” she said.

Castellet has spent “a whole life” in snowboarding and is clear that all his successes “would not have been possible” without the people who supported him so that he “dreamed so big.” “They are the ones who have supported me dreaming of this because I was a girl with a lot of imagination and a lot of passion for ‘snow’, that what I had was competitiveness. It is quite surreal to dedicate everything to this from such a young age, but I had it very clear and I wanted it in such a way that they couldn’t say no to me, they supported my dream and that with that confidence nothing could stop me,” he said.

The Olympic runner-up recalled that when she was a child she had “as a reference” the American Gretchen Bleiler. “I was in my room and I loved her ‘snow’. I saw her and those girls on the podium in Turin and to me they were heroines, I was so far from being able to catch up with them on a sporting level. It wasn’t until I found myself in the same list that I said I wanted to be there and fighting for what they were fighting for and not seeing them from my room. I always remember them, they are the beginning of my dream, “he admitted.

“THIS DOESN’T END HERE”

The Vallesan confessed that the Games are “the most important competition that exists” and that “it is very important for any athlete to win a medal”, but warned that there are other relevant events as well. “Getting results in all of them and being with the best every year is a great pride,” she stressed.

For this reason, he is now “enjoying a lot” of his sport. “You don’t spend four years focused only on the Games because in between there are goals that make you progress. Every day I learn in the snow and, above all, in the mountains,” said the ‘rider’.

“For the time being I will continue doing ‘snow’, I want to continue evolving, competing, which I like, and the approach that I have always taken is based on evolution. This does not end here,” said the Catalan, who is “in the best moment” of his career. “Until I don’t stop learning I won’t consider leaving it and if other Games arrive in this evolution, they are welcome because I’m probably going to do better,” she said.

Queralt Castellet referred to the fact that he had neither his coach nor his physio at the Games, an obstacle that he overcame thanks to focusing “on the important things of the day” and putting into practice what he had been working on “for so long”. “Maybe my experience or way of being has helped me,” he explained.

The Spanish also assured that on the day of the final she had her “own strategy” and that she did not have the opportunity to “follow all the rounds” of her rivals. “I already had enough work. I wanted to look at my own ‘riding’ and the best I could do it, without knowing what the others were going to do. I knew that if I did it well, it would give me a good result,” she declared. .

“I hang this on me and I don’t take it off,” he joked about where he plans to put the medal. “The first thing I wanted to do when I arrived in Spain was celebrate with my family and the last thing I expected was to find them here and it has been an incredible surprise,” she confessed, happy to be reunited with her family.

BLANCO: “SHE IS A DREAMER AND A FIGHTER”

For his part, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, congratulated the Sabadell team for having won a medal that was “like the end of a very long road.” “The sport has given him in his fifth Games what he deserved in previous ones and what he has pursued so much,” he said.

“Regardless of the results, she is a dreamer, a fighter, there is no limit that she puts in her head that she does not exceed, and that is what captivated me about her when I had my first meeting with her in Vancouver. She was a girl who I wanted to dream and go far. Thank you for what you’ve achieved and what you’ve taught us,” said the manager.

By Editor

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