Like him, David Cal hung five medals, but one gold.
Like him, Joan Llaneras got two golds, but four in total.
He looked at where he looked at, since yesterday Saul Craviotto is the best Olympic athlete in the history of Spain.
Two golds, two plates and a bronze, five medals.
A record that will remain for a long time as those who follow lurking, such as Mireia Belmonte, Rafa Nadal, Maialen Chourraut, Pau Gasol or Rudy Fernández, already have an age and there are no young people with more than two metals at home.
“I do not know what to say, that’s the most laureate, I do not know, it’s hard to compare sports. Yes I’m very excited to tie medals with lime because it was my idol, a great friend and, go, for me lime is the god
of canoeing, “said Craviotto, the happiest of the components of the K4 who even tried to convince the rest, especially Carlos Arévalo, of the importance of silver despite the tight defeat against Germany.
“We have an incredible group, the best coach in the world, the best companions and we are all united, we have made the career of our lives, the Germans have been better and this is sport,” he commented between Germans celebrating his gold, some of them
Friends of yours
Ronald Rauhe, in fact, the most veteran, approached him and asked for a photo, a champion with a subcampeon, after a whole life giving sticks to each other.
Many of the questions towards Craviotto were directed to a possible retreat, at 36, after four participations in the games, but he denied the greatest.
“Now I’m going to be five or six months on vacation, I’ll rest a lot of head, I’ll need, I’ll be with my girls and then it’s a year and a half until the games, Paris is close, you can even get from Asturias by car”
, Craviotto joked, but left a message loaded with meaning: “If the young people leave me, I’ll be there.”
And he did not lack reason.
Actually the presence of Craviotto as part of the K4 depends more on his colleagues than himself.
The bet from the 2016 Rio Games for the team vessel was very daring and now it will be necessary to see if Marcus Walz, Carlos Arévalo and Rodrigo Germade want to return to deliver all his options to get a gold to a complicated fight against Germany.
Walz resigned K1 1000, category in which he was champion on Rio 2016 games, and might be interested in returning.
At Arévalo OR Germade, the new distance could be attractive, the K2 500, easy to combine even with that K4 500. There are still many candidates, such as the complainant Carlos Garrote or Cristian Toro, who have skills to qualify for Paris 2024 games
. And so several variants that start from the success that, in principle, the Spanish Federation wants to return everything to kayak by teams.
Without that K4 500, the position of Craviotto would be complicated, again in solitude, on long distances, a somewhat desmotivating future, but who knows.
After all, since yesterday, he looked at where he looked is the best Olympic athlete in the history of Spain.
