Fourth on the planet, a candidate for an Olympic medal, she has been preventing a illness since adolescence that causes her absence seizures. “I keep in mind being on the monitor and, a second later, being outdoors, sitting in a chair. They needed to take me out,” she remembers.
“I keep in mind being on the monitor at a World Cup and, a second later, being outdoors, sitting in a chair. They needed to take me out. The group physician defined to me that I had had a seizure and had been absent. Not fully stopped, however misplaced for 20 seconds, like a zombie.”
Luca Martin-Portugus She is the most effective fencer in Spain and at the moment the fourth on the planet: her medal on the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris is a logical possibility. In her competitions, she strikes backwards and forwards with a saber in her hand, by no means stopping, the pace may be very excessive. However on the similar time she lives with a illness, epilepsy, which causes absence seizures, that’s, it isolates her from the world. The connection between sport and a illness is just not easy. Completely.
“I’ve suffered many crises in tournaments and coaching, however they final little or no, not more than half a minute and it provides me time to recuperate,” he feedback in a dialog with EL MUNDO about an epilepsy that he assures “impacts different athletes, even when they do not wish to expose it publicly.” “.
“I really feel that I’ve to do pedagogy as a result of for a few years I used to be not identified and it was distressing,” proclaims Martn-Portugus and narrates the complete course of as much as the current second: “After I was a baby I already suffered absence seizures in school, I acquired dizzy, I wished to to vomit, however they instructed me it was low blood sugar or low blood strain. I did not actually care both. However when she died [el futbolista Antonio] Puerta learn in a newspaper that he had additionally suffered related signs and it frightened me quite a bit. I used to be then 16 or 17 years previous. I did every kind of exams, particularly cardiological, till they referred me to a neurologist and he instructed me that I had epilepsy from the ebook.
the appropriate therapy
For a number of years, the fencer was visiting specialists, testing medication that may assist her and solely about six years in the past, already at 26, her present neurologist hit on the therapy. “Now I haven’t got a disaster and I may be calm. The tablets make me slightly drained, I’ve to exert extra will, however taking that away I am fantastic”, she factors out, and so effectively.
In 2022 he achieved 4 medals within the World Cup, the final one gold, a milestone that Spain had not celebrated because the final century. On the age of 32, after controlling his epilepsy, Martín-Portugus has discovered the trail to victory, however the enchancment in his illness has not been the one consider his favor.
“There have been many. Fencing is a strategic sport, which requires maturity, understanding easy methods to interpret your opponent’s actions, understanding the traps. That takes time to study. Additionally, three years in the past, a brand new coach got here in, [Jos Luis lvarez], and with him I method every little thing in one other means. Earlier than I targeted on profitable, profitable and profitable; Now I give attention to bettering, on my method, on my ways, on my angle. The remainder comes alone “, she analyzes with an fascinating path forward.
paris on the horizon
Qualifying for the Olympic Video games in fencing is a labyrinth of competitions, individually and by groups, by which you can not fail, besides within the World Cup and the European Championship subsequent summer season. In truth, till now, as occurred in Tokyo 2020, Martin-Portuguese has by no means gotten an Olympic ticket. This time she touches him.
Born in Villanueva de la Caada, the youngest of a giant household, her dad and mom signed her up for ballet, however on the age of six she already insisted on doing that with the swords that her three brothers did. “The factor about hitting me comes from house,” she admits. Even though she competed in opposition to youngsters till she was 13 or 14 years previous, within the coaching classes she triumphed, she received a number of Spanish Championships and at 20, nonetheless a junior, she hung her first medal within the World Cup. She was already within the elite and, on the similar time, she lacked quite a bit.
“The transition from junior to senior was troublesome for me and, additionally, once I was 23 years previous, my father handed away from lung most cancers and I had a tough time. That was mixed with the seek for a therapy for epilepsy, with the research [est acabando Odontologa]with the hours working as a referee [lleg a ser internacional]… It hasn’t been straightforward to place every little thing so as, however I feel I am at my finest now”, admits the fencer who has already discovered to defeat her rivals and, on the similar time, her sickness.