Sports and Coronavirus | Saul Craviotto joins the list of elite athletes to work as a police officer


Sports and Coronavirus | Saul Craviotto joins the list of elite athletes to work as a police officer

Saul Craviotto joins the list of elite athletes to work as a police officer

It wasn’t long ago when the Spanish Olympic Committee announced that Saul Craviotto will be a flag bearer of the Spanish Olympic delegation at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games but the games came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Tokyo Olympics is postponed till 2021 but instead of preparing for the games, the 35-year-old is serving as a police officer in the streets of the northern city of Gijon to fight against the virus.

Craviotto told ‘The Associated Press’ this week that, “It was a radical change. You go from preparing for the Olympic Games to the next day not having the games. But the important thing now is everyone’s health and sports has become secondary, so it’s time to put on the uniform and try to overcome this situation.”

While all sporting events are on halt, Christian Mendez who is the coach of the women’s national beach soccer team and last year, became world champion is also serving as a police officer with European karate champion Laura Palacio and women’s soccer player Estela Fernandez. Three first division soccer referees are also working on the same purpose.

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Craviotto won Olympic gold medals in Beijing and Rio de Janeiro and Silver medal in London with a bronze from Rio de Janeiro. After winning a medal in Tokyo, he entered into the list of Spain’s most successful Olympian.

“Everyone was talking about the flag bearer and then this happened with the coronavirus and everybody stopped talking about it,”

Craviotto said, “Now, I don’t know how it’s going to be. And I don’t think it’s the time to ask the Olympic committee about this.”

In 2007, Craviotto and Mendez both became a police officer. Now they are volunteering in the streets of Spain when the government has declared a nationwide lockdown.

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“I’ll always be a police officer,” Craviotto said. “I’m not doing anything heroic, it’s just my job. Kayaking is my passion and being a police officer is my profession. I’m very comfortable in both activities. They share similar values, like discipline, companionship.”

Craviotto’s coach Miguel Garcia said that he wasn’t shocked when he decided to help as he “always took a step forward when things got difficult.”

“Being an athlete kind of helps him as a police officer, because of the discipline and the commitment that he already carried as an athlete,” García added.

However, Craviotto manages to practice in the afternoon and plans to return to full-time training when the situation will improve in Spain while Mendez already took a break from the police force.

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“It’s clear that 2020 will be historic for everyone,” he said. “When my daughter is 8 or 10 years old, I’ll be telling her that her father was in the front line fighting against this pandemic, day in and day out.”

The Tokyo Olympic Games will be held from July 23, 2021, with the Paralympics on August 24.