MADRID, 9 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The recently started 2021 is presented as a year very loaded at the sports level after all the postponements that were experienced in 2020 due to the pandemic and that affected many athletes. But now, many of them are looking forward to a 2021 that is presented special and with great challenges.
Saúl Craviotto and Mireia Belmonte. The paddler and the swimmer will face a special 2021 for two reasons. One of the two has many overtones of carry the flag of Spain at the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony and also, in that event, they aspire to equal or exceed the five Olympic medals by David Cal, the most awarded of the national sport. They both own four.
Rafa Nadal. The Manacor tennis player will also have a 2021 with many sporting goals. Could become the tennis player with more ‘Grand Slams’ in history, a career in which he is now tied with Roger Federer at 20, and could also get his third Olympic gold, which could make him the Spanish athlete with more gold medals of history, a milestone to which Craviotto also aspires.
Pau Gasol. 2021 will be key to know for sure the sporting future from the pivot of Sant Boi. Removed from the courts due to a foot injury since March 2019, the Catalan player wants to play again and be able to be in the Tokyo Games, the fifths of his career and the most possible finishing touch to his career.
José Manuel Ruiz, Teresa Portela and Jesús Ángel García Bragado. For all three, Tokyo 2020 will have a meaning beyond your participation. The Grenadian, with seven, will become the Spanish athlete with more appearances in Paralympic Games. The Galician, with six, will be the spanish woman with more appearances in Olympic events. The Madrilenian, at 51 years old, is almost guaranteed his eighth Games.
Luis Enrique and Luis de la Fuente. The two technicians will have key appointments this year. The Asturian will face as coach of the Absolute their first big date, EURO 2020, while the Rioja will have a double commitment: to defend the title of champions of the U21 European Championship and to lead to the olympic team in Tokyo.
Alejandro Valverde. The veteran Murcian cyclist, who will turn 41 in April, could face his last season as he himself had announced, but the pandemic that struck in 2020 I could delay your goodbye another year. Anyway, in 2021 he will try to add to his record the only thing missing: an Olympic medal.
Susana Rodríguez. The Galician triathlete with visual impairment can face a big challenge this year. It will be at the Tokyo Games where she will be one of the great favorites for the medal in her category and where she could also do a rare doublet since it could compete in athletics, in the 1,500 meters.
Teresa Perales. The most successful Spanish athlete at the Paralympic level will try to increase her harvest of medals, located at 26, and reach the symbolic 28 the most awarded at the Olympic level, the American swimmer Michael Phelps.
Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz. The Asturian and the Madrilenian will live a special 2021. The first, two-time Formula 1 world champion, will return to the ‘big circus’ after two years away from him and managing to shine in other disciplines (24 hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship, or the Indianapolis 500) at the wheel of an Alpine, Renault’s new name. The second will sit on a ‘red car’ of the most historic team, Ferrari.
Ricardo Ten and Alejandro Sánchez. Both, early swimmers and medalists in this sport in Paralympic Games, will seek to hang medals in Tokyo in his ‘new’ sports: cycling and triathlon, respectively.
Sandra Sánchez and Damián Quintero. The two karatecas, current number one in the kata modality, will have their great opportunity in Tokyo 2020 where It will be released, and at the same time it will say goodbye, his sport on the Olympic program.
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