2023-11-22 07:04:03
Last August, Eduardo Blasco, world rescue and lifesaving champion, embarked with an NGO to save lives off the Italian coast. Now, he combines hard training for the qualifying events for the 2024 World Cup in Australia with his humanitarian work, this time in the Canary Islands, where he resides, to help confront the migration crisis that the archipelago is currently suffering.
What do the World Cup qualifying events consist of?
There are different modalities that basically what they do is emulate a rescue situation, which happens that in the case of competition the objective is to do it as quickly as possible, and non-protocol techniques are used. I mean, I can’t grab a person by the neck in a real rescue, but I can grab a mannequin. There are tests that are just swimming, and others that have implements. For example, there are relays where you only have to swim, such as the 50 freestyle, but then there are other tests that consist, for example, of swimming 50 meters, diving a section of 17 meters and finally dragging a dummy that weighs 75 kilos the rest of the distance. . Then there are others where you have to swim 25 meters, and another 25 meters dragging, after collecting yourself at the bottom. All of this is regulated in a pertinent manner by the CSD and the IOC.
Who are the team’s main rivals?
The countries that have the greatest potential in this sport are Germany and Australia, they are always the “bone” of the competition. They have an obvious advantage: they dedicate resources to them and give them an importance that is very difficult to achieve in some countries. Australian swimmers who do lifesaving are the best, they are prepared for it, it is one of their national sports. The lifeguards on the beaches pass very difficult tests, at the level of those of the National Police in Spain. It is a way of understanding this sport that does not happen in Europe, except in Germany. They are two powers that historically have taken all the medals.
What aspects do you consider most important in your sport?
In my discipline clearly physical strength and training. They are tests in which different elements are combined: anaerobic capacity, added weight… In the end, the physique is everything. Perhaps in another water sport technique is more relevant, but in mine it is clearly strength. In fact, the dry preparation surpasses that of the water phase. I basically do functional training, similar to CrossFit, and a lot of weight training, because it is what will guarantee me being able to lift the 75 kilo mannequin with one hand for the shortest time possible. I can have a great level of swimming but it will not be useful if I am not able to overcome that resistance, and to exert direct traction you have to have a lot of strength and, above all, sustain it.
What are your strengths?
In me, a good level of swimming converges with a strength that is not typical of an aquatic athlete. Clearly I’ve been lucky genetically. I’m 1.85, I’m not very tall but I weigh 115 kilos. I have a physical strength that is not common in an aquatic athlete, and that makes it quite easy for me to stand out internationally. Over the years I have improved, but the base is there.
How long do you train?
It depends a lot on the time of the season. At the beginning you train a lot more, and also from the moment of your sports career. A young swimmer usually has to swim many meters, five or six hours, even as a sprinter. Even though my test was going to last 20 seconds, I had to swim for four or five hours from Monday to Saturday. As the years go by and a higher technical level one can focus more on the physical aspect. For a long time I have been doing 90-minute workouts every day at a very high intensity, close to competition pace.
Are the workouts solo?
I have two trainers. At this level you not only need a person to plan, but supervision. Because asking yourself for that level of suffering is practically impossible. When you can’t take it anymore, it’s your teammates or your coach who tells you: “Keep it there,” and he asks you for more. That being alone is very complicated.
Why did you dedicate yourself to this?
For the same reason I dedicated myself to the rescue. I come from a sea family, my grandfather was the Spanish champion of the Fedas (Spanish Federation of Underwater Activities). In my family we have all done water sports, we control the modalities that exist, and I have always liked rescue, since I was a child. I swam, I have been in some of the best swimming clubs in Spain and I have competed in the honor division, but I always had that second discipline there. And he combined them. Until one day I decided on rescue, first because it is more attractive, fun, it is more physically demanding for me, and it also has an application to reality, which is what perhaps makes the difference when choosing.
{ “@context”:” “@type”:”ImageObject”, “url”:” “uploadDate”: “2023-11-17T21:45:19.154+01:00”, “width”: “1000”, ” height”: “567”} This summer during the work of rescuing immigrants off the Italian coast La Razón
What do you value most from your experience as a professional swimmer when facing a real rescue?
The physical part gives me a very big advantage, because a normal person, even if trained, will have an important rescue capacity, but it is not the same as mine. I can save more people, spend more time swimming, I can rescue someone who is big and heavy… At all levels it is an advantage. I get less tired, because it costs me less, fatigue takes longer to arrive. The physical part is unavoidable and must be mentioned, because it is what makes the difference. And then there is another thing, which is that I have been at sea all my life. For me it is not a foreign environment, I grew up in San Sebastián and have lived in Fuerteventura all my life. For me, playing was going swimming to an island, we went fishing, with friends always on the beach… My leisure and my training since I was a child has been water.
What are you most proud of, your medals or your humanitarian work?
The latter, without a doubt. There are many athletes with medals in Spain, but there are almost none people who are committed to their place in the world. I have been very lucky to grow up in this environment and to have the ideas that I have, because otherwise I would be an athlete who looks after his own thing and that’s it. And be careful, I’m not saying that’s wrong. But when you practice a sport that has that capacity, which there are few that have an application to reality, from my point of view it is a responsibility, because it transcends sport. «Are you capable of traveling this distance in this time and you are not ashamed to do it just to win money and medals?» In my case I think it is quite clear, I have lost a lot of money and many medals for dedicating myself to this, and I would do it again and again.
#Rescue #swimming #put #practice #responsibility