The quarantine decreed in most countries due to the presence of the coronavirus has altered the training and tournament plans of athletes.
Patinadora María Eduarda Fuentes has been locked up in Italy for 24 days and was supposed to return on April 14. "My goals haven't changed and I continue with my training at home, I train six days a week. I do plyometric exercises with jumps and stabilizer turns to control my body; in the afternoons, I do physical preparation, coordination, agility, speed, core stability, jump rope, and finish with a session of specific jumps to control rotations."
The figure skater and Pan American medalist in Lima 2019 says she is observing the quarantine to avoid any type of contagion: "We order food for delivery, I avoid going out, it's not an option (to go out) with the situation that is being experienced in Italy that seems to never stop. I follow the hygiene rules that have been given, even with the things that are brought from the supermarket, they are disinfected before touching them."
We should not be discouraged or let ourselves down because if passion and determination are present, the postponement of a tournament is not an excuse, nor should it move us away from the goal. María Eduarda Fuentes, skating athlete
Although figure skating is not part of the Olympic Games, for María Eduarda "the decision to postpone them was a correct and responsible decision. I know that for many it is difficult to accept, to understand, but it is the right alternative, they should not be discouraged or lose the desire because in a year they will be at the Olympic Games."
The Ecuadorian athlete says that she will continue training at home with clear objectives and goals because the shutdown has affected all the planning for this year and next year, such as the World Games, and with the postponement of the Olympics, she doesn't know what will happen with the entire calendar.
When María Eduarda returns to Ecuador, she was supposed to participate in a training camp and a national championship. "Then I was supposed to travel to the World Circuit in Europe for three World Cups in Portugal, Italy, and Germany, but it was canceled."
Volleyball player in Arabia
Meanwhile, volleyball player Joselo Nazareno is in the United Arab Emirates in quarantine. "I've been here for six months and I'm waiting to go back home. I had a ticket to travel to Argentina (where I reside) and five hours before the flight, it was canceled due to the closing of airports. The volleyball league here has been suspended due to the pandemic. I am living in Abu Dhabi, waiting for the airports to open."
Joselo, who was born from the chiquivolley program during the presidency of Patricio Sandoval, in charge of the Ecuadorian volleyball, says that if the Olympics had been kept as scheduled, "It would not have been good because the athletes would not have been at their best."
The postponement of the Olympics was a correct decision because the world is paralyzed and there is nothing more important than the health of the athletes. Joselo Nazareno, Ecuadorian volleyball player
The Ecuadorian, who plays for the Al Dhafra Sport Club in Abu Dhabi and has played in Chile, Argentina, and Turkey, said that neither the Ministry of Sports nor the Ecuadorian Volleyball Federation have called him to see how he is. "I don't like to be pitied or to feel sorry, but it is the reality I am living now. No one has called me to see how I am here," he commented. (D)