Pools shut? No worries. Argentinian paralympic swimmer builds DIY pool with plastic bag
Record ID:
1562241
Pools shut? No worries. Argentinian paralympic swimmer builds DIY pool with plastic bag
- Title: Pools shut? No worries. Argentinian paralympic swimmer builds DIY pool with plastic bag
- Date: 14th July 2020
- Summary: FLORENCIO VARELA, ARGENTINA (JULY 13, 2020) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF MAKESHIFT POOL BUILT FOR PARALYMPIC ATHLETE, SEBASTIAN GALLEGUILLO, BY HIS PARENTS SO HE COULD PRACTICE WHILE HIS SWIM CLUB IS SHUT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO WALKING TO POOL GALLEGUILLO WETTING HIS FEET MAKESHIFT POOL GALLEGUILLO ENTERING POOL VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING GALLEGUILLO DOING BUTTERFLY STROKE GALLEGUILLO STOPS, REMOVES HIS GOGGLES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARALYMPIC ATHLETE, SEBASTIAN GALLEGUILLO, SAYING: "I said to my mom: I want to train again because I am becoming rigid, I am losing mobility in my body, losing flexibility in my shoulder, my hip and (hip) rotator. It's not the same to train outside as being in the water. In the water you have a different touch, it's a feeling, it's like writing all day and you start writing better." VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING WATER FILLING POOL FROM SPIGOTS VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO'S FATHER, EDMUNDO CESAR HERNANDEZ, PLACING FIREWOOD IN STOVE TO HEAT POOL WATER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARALYMPIC ATHLETE'S FATHER, EDMUNDO CESAR HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "We made do with what we had here and we started building. The first day was nailing logs on the floor, the second was putting sheets and plastics so that the water does not drain. Later, we bought a 15-meter-long by 4-meter wide (49 by 13 feet) plastic that forms a bag and that is what holds the water." VARIOUS OF SLOW MOTION OF GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING SLOW MOTION OF GALLEGUILLO DOING BREAST STROKE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARALYMPIC ATHLETE, SEBASTIAN GALLEGUILLO, SAYING: "With swimming I am one, I am completely me: in there, I do not depend on my hearing, I am in the water and I only need my body to train." VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SEEN SWIMMING FROM UNDERWATER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARALYMPIC ATHLETE'S FATHER, EDMUNDO CESAR HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I asked him, 'aren't you cold?' It (water) is cold. And he said to me, 'No, pa, it's not cold, it's great.' And, he swam and he moved, and his mother and I were happy to see him smile when he came out." GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING FREESTYLE VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SEEN SWIMMING FREESTYLE FROM UNDER THE WATER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARALYMPIC ATHLETE, SEBASTIAN GALLEGUILLO, SAYING: "When I'm racing and I have my ticket to Brazil, that's going to make me very happy and that happiness is going to make me more enthusiastic and active. The moment of my first race in Brazil I'm going to be a disaster (for other competitors), I'm going to give it my all in my first race." VARIOUS OF GALLEGUILLO SWIMMING BACKSTROKE
- Embargoed: 28th July 2020 17:57
- Keywords: Argentina competition deaf disabled homemade makeshift olympics paralympics pool practice swimmer
- Location: FLORENCIO VARELA, ARGENTINA
- City: FLORENCIO VARELA, ARGENTINA
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Sport,Swimming
- Reuters ID: LVA001CMS936H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Sebastian Galleguillo, 18, an Argentine paralympic swimmer, has found an unusual way to train during an almost four-month lockdown in and around capital Buenos Aires due to the coronavirus pandemic that saw his local pool close its doors.
With the help of his bricklayer dad, Galleguillo has made a makeshift "pool" in his back yard located in a poor neighborhood of the city, using plastic sheets, logs, an old tank and two metal drums, and filling it with 400 liters of water.
"We made do with what we had here and we started building," his father Edmundo Hernandez, 47, told Reuters.
"The first day was nailing logs on the floor, the second was putting sheets and plastics so that the water does not drain. Later, we bought a 15-meter-long by 4-meter wide plastic that forms a bag and that is what holds the water."
Galleguillo, who is part of the Argentine team of deaf swimmers and training to participate in the 2021 Deaflympics in Brazil, said his time out of the water had been tough.
"I said to my mom: I want to train again because I am becoming rigid, I am losing mobility in my body... It's not the same to train outside as being in the water."
Argentina's government imposed a mandatory lockdown on March 20, which has been extended around Buenos Aires until at least July 17 due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases that now number over 100,000, with nearly 2,000 fatalities.
Despite the Southern Hemisphere winter, Galleguillo trains daily in his DIY pool, with heat from wood burned in a metal drum.
"With swimming I am one, I am completely me: in there, I do not depend on my hearing, I am in the water and I only need my body to train," he said.
(Production: Miguel Lo Bianco, Claudia Martini) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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