Antón Ruanova returns to professional sport and will compete with Brazil

The triathlete twice runner-up in Spain left the competition 2 years ago for lack of support and opportunities.

Anton Ruanova has published on its website a statement explaining that it will return to the ITU competition but will compete with Brazil, due to its recent nationalization in that country.

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 They say that life gives second chances, although I do not know if they just appear or are pursued by one. Be that as it may, here I am. Two years ago I abandoned professional sports, tired of seeing how the doors of my dream closed: debut and compete with the best in the World Championship. Tired of the lack of opportunities despite being twice runner-up in Spain Elite and top-14 in the three DO World Cups that I played.

It is not easy to say goodbye to something that has been fought so hard. Even less do it at the best moment of your career, but I looked forward and I was excited about a new project. After passing the different entrance exams, I had obtained a prestigious grant from ICEX Spain Investment and Exports to continue my training and work.

As much studying the Master in International Management of the Company (2014) as working in the Commercial Office of Spain in Brasilia (2015), the sport lost the preponderant role in my life, but it continued accompanying me in my free time. Sport motivates me, frees me, relaxes me. In short, it makes me a better person.

Surprisingly, training in my free time, I managed to do some of the best races of my life (4th in the last stage of the Triathlon Bundesliga and 3rd in the Brazilian professional triathlon circuit). Results that initiate a series of children's conversations, more wishes than reality, to move my sports nationality from Spain to Brazil.

So I plan on 2016. The last year of the ICEX Grant consists of working on the internationalization of some of the best Spanish companies, for which we have been training for two years. On the other hand, these conversations take shape and the sporting opportunity that I had always wanted has become real: a path without obstacles that could open and deepen depending on my successes.

There the dilemma presents itself. The tranquility of a good job in a good company or the uncertainty of professional sports? The economic security of a good salary at the end of the month or the absolute uncertainty of a remuneration based on the results in the races? The confidence of being in your country, in your home with the people you love or the constant adventure of traveling from one place to another? But also the option to be one more or to pursue a dream and feel how the skin bristles at every moment?

I am already writing from Brazil, the country that, without giving me anything, opens its doors for me to continue that dream that I left behind in 2013: to be able to debut in the World Championship and fight with the best. Obrigado Brazil. On the horizon is drawn the label of Tokyo 2020. I think about being able to fight to be in the Olympics and I shudder with joy. The road is long, uncertain and hard. But it's also exciting and I find myself more confident and capable than ever.

Almost three years later, my return to the ITU world of international competitions will be March's 20 in Valparaíso, Chile. Many things have changed since my last ITU test, the 2013 Alicante World Cup. My country, from ESP to BRA, but above all the certainty of doing what I most want to do. There are situations that only look better from a distance, and these two years away from professional sports have helped me more than I could imagine to come back stronger today.

More information: http://www.antonruanova.com/

Photo: Mundo Tri