MEXICO: OLYMPICS - Mexican flat water canoe racer Jose Everardo Cristobal Quirino hopes to learn from mistakes to win in Beijing

Record ID: 303449

  • Title: MEXICO: OLYMPICS - Mexican flat water canoe racer Jose Everardo Cristobal Quirino hopes to learn from mistakes to win in Beijing
  • Date: 21st June 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JOSE EVERARDO CRISTOBAL QUIRINO'S COACH, JOSE ANTONIO ROMERO, SAYING: "He has been one of the fortunate ones, who has qualities that few people have in the world, who have emerged and have become World Champions at a young age (20 years-old). So he has a lot of qualities to continue developing. He's quite a young person and without difficulties, he could go to two more Olympic Games."
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAO52DT6AQ96EK9RXERK56HOVJ
  • Story Text: The 2007 Pan American and 2006 World Champion in Flatwater (Canoe) Racing, Jose Everardo Cristobal Quirino, is one of Mexico's best hopes for a medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
    Almost every day, canoe racer Jose Everardo Cristobal Quirino arrives to train at the Villa Victoria lake, in the State of Mexico, to put in several hours of backbreaking training. It's this work that made him the 2007 Pan American and 2006 World Champion in Flatwater (Canoe) Racing.
    Now, the 22-year-old Mexican hopes to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics.
    Everardo had an early, and practical, start in rowing. In order to get to school as a young boy, he canoed across Lake Patzcuaro (pron: PATS-cuaro) in his native indigenous community of Uranden (U-ran-den). He's come a long way since those early days.
    In 2006, Everardo upset many top European athletes by winning at the Flatwater (Canoe) Racing World Championships in Hungary, making history by becoming the first Latin American sportsman to win a World Championship in individual flatwater racing. He was named 2006 Sportsman of the Year in Mexico.
    Last year, Everardo won three medals at the Rio 2007 Pan American Games in three categories, gold in the C-1 1000 m and C-1 500 m races as well as silver in the C-2 500 m canoe racing with teammate Gilberto Soriano.
    However, he was unable to defend his World Championship title at Duisburg, Germany in 2007 in the final of the C-1 1000 m race and ended in a disappointing sixth place.
    Everardo said that he was unable to properly recover for Germany after participating in three competitions at the Pan American Games, held just one week earlier.
    Nevertheless, Everardo feels motivated by his previous wins.
    "I feel motivated with each competition I win and more with the World Championship. The truth is that I feel happy, with the wish to push ahead with this sport of canoe racing and to be recognised."
    He admits that he was under intense pressure to defend his World title, but is willing to learn from his mistakes and study his past glories that will help him get into the first three spots at the Olympic Games.
    "I've been looking at videos from the World Championship in 2006 and of this year. There is a lot of difference. I'm working on all of my mistakes that I had that year (2007), especially at the World Championships - which was the important one (competition) - in order to get into the first three spots."
    Everardo's coach, Jose Antonio Romero, who discovered him in a local competition, thinks that Everardo is an outstanding sportsman with a lot of strength and a polished technique.
    Romero said that the fact that Everardo became a World Champion at such a young age prepares him for a bright future.
    "He has been one of the fortunate ones, who has qualities that few people have in the world, who have emerged and have become World Champions at a young age (20 years-old). So he has a lot of qualities to continue developing. He's quite a young person and without difficulties, he could attend two more Olympic Games."
    At Beijing, Everardo will represent Mexico in the C-1 1000 m race and the National Canoe Federation is yet to confirm his participation in the C-2 500 m race with teammate Dimas Camilo, as they want Everardo to keep his strength for the individual race.
    Everardo and Camilo have already qualified for the games in the C-2 500 m race, after qualifying by winning a silver medal at a qualification event for the Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada last May.
    This year's Duisburg regatta has just finished with Thomas Hall of Canada winning the C1 1000m final with Germany's Andreas Dittmer second.
    The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will take place from August 8-24.
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