Hidalgo hopes that the Spanish triathlon will remove "the thorn" in London 2012

The president of the Spanish Triathlon Federation (FETRI), José Hidalgo Martín, has shown his desire that the London 2012 Olympic Games allow the Spanish triathlon to "get the thorn out" and achieve Olympic success, mainly in the men's section, after the diploma of the last appointment.

"The background for London 2012 is good, I like to think that part of the objective is the path and very interesting things have happened on that path, since Spain is one of the more than one hundred countries that have classified the maximum number of men and women , and we are going with options”, Hidalgo declared in an interview with Efe, after attending last night in Ceuta the delivery of the 2011 trophies of the Ceuta Federation of this sport.

On the possibilities of Spain, Hidalgo has indicated: "in girls Ainhoa ​​Murúa, Zuriñe Rodríguez and Marina Damlaimcourt, who are the ones who can be there, have options due to maturity and because their time has come to be in an Olympic diploma, while in boys Javier Gómez Noya, Iván Raña and Mario Mola they give to dream of a medal”.

The president of FETRI has warned about the main rivals and has asserted that they will be "the English and the Germans, since Jan Frodeno He is a man of the Olympic Games, although I think that with medal options eight or nine athletes will arrive for sure, including those who play from locals like the Alistair brothers and Jonathan Brownlee, but running at home has an extra cost and extra motivation ”.

Regarding the Olympic event, he assessed that Spain is one of the six countries in the world that currently has the maximum participation rate and highlighted: "we have three men and three women, which is the maximum we can have".

Hidalgo has defended the "good health" of the Spanish triathlon "based on the fact that the federated world is stagnant and in crisis, while the popular sport continues to increase, but triathlon has been growing above 18 percent for more than a decade the number of licences.

The number of organizers and clubs has also grown and he has argued that "we have exceeded the 15 percent level and we have athletes like Javier Gómez Noya, Iván Raña or Mario Mola who are fighting to be world champions or be in the Olympics ”.

The FETRI leader recalled that "since Iván Raña was world champion in Cancun in 1992, always, in all the World Championships, we have had a Spaniard who has been on the podium or fighting for it."

"We are a sport -he continued- that transmits a good social image, transmits values ​​and is very attached to the sporting reality and that is why we are growing, so we must try to lay the foundations so that it continues to grow".

He has been optimistic about the possibility of maintaining this rate of growth because "triathlon is in fashion, it is a sport that arouses a lot of sympathy among fans and whoever knows this modality ends up staying, but we are afraid that this, which is abnormal in terms of Growth and interest at some point have to be put back to normal”.

José Hidalgo, who has advanced the implementation of a national project for the popularization of triathlon and has added that "we are knowing how to interpret what people want and we are trying to keep up with the times. We are trying to develop the triathlon in all the autonomies equally, we have great roots throughout the national territory”.

Regarding the delivery of the Gold Medal for Sports Merit granted by the Higher Sports Council and received on October 5, he stated that "it was a recognition of triathlon, of what has been achieved as a sport, the last to enter Sydney in the Olympic Games, and now we have gone from being the tail of the van of Olympic sports to asking for a leading role in the middle zone”.

On his first official visit to Ceuta, he acknowledged that: "Spain ends up being very big but I have always had a very close relationship with this city since it has people who are very active in this sport." EFE

Source: abc.es