Twenty years after his brother Paquito discovered gold in the snow Japan, Blanca Fernandez Ochoa He found bronze in the Olympic slalom Albertville 1992, in France. A February 20 that went down in the history of Spanish sport for getting the Madrid skier the second medal of Spain in a Winter Olympic Games and the first conquered by a woman, showing the way for women’s winter sports in Spain. A sporting success that hides behind him a great sacrifice and ability to overcome, for which few bet, especially after the gold in the giant of the JJ.OO escaped him. from Calgary 1988. On the Canadian snow, Blanca had the best time in the first heat, but she fell in the second when she was the clear favorite for gold, after she won the Olympic diploma in the slalom (5th).
“I remember I went to see her. She was leading after the first heat and was going to win the gold medal, and the truth is that in the second heat she came out like a custard and did not get that medal that she so longed for and deserved for quality. Luckily, she was able to get even with the bronze in the slalom of Albertville 1992. He took a medal that he deserved ”, remembers for MD the then Olympic freestyler Martí Rafel, who made a great friendship with Blanca and with the entire Fernández Ochoa family, forged in summers working on the glaciers.
I think of her and I think of her brother Paco, both had impressive merit, especially for the resources that were dedicated to sports at the time. If they got where they got, it was because they were very talented, and they also worked harder than anyone else, which is what you don’t see
“I think of her and I think of her brother Paco, both had impressive merit, especially for the resources that were dedicated to sport at the time. If they got where they got it was because they were very talented, and also worked harder than anyone, which is what you don’t see. Blanca also had the ability to get up, to leave behind a great moment of frustration. Imagine the moment that Blanca lived in Calgary. The level of frustration that this generates has to be known to know it”, clarifies Martí Rafel, who praises her great capacity for work. “There are those who today still think that Blanca achieved results because the federation put more resources into her. It is true, but she was the one who showed that she had more possibilities to contribute medals. She didn’t give him anything from her. In physical training, in abdominal series, she won. She did the most sit-ups in a minute, more than any of us. No one beat her in training and she had to be taken off the track. Her capacity for work and sacrifice was impressive”, he recalls.
No one won her training and she had to be taken off the track. Her capacity for work and sacrifice was impressive.
those of Meribel They were the fifth Games for a Blanca who, as they say, learned to ski before she learned to walk and who faced almost 29 years of age. She debuted at her first Olympics in Lake Placid, USA, 1980 with 16 years, and was the 16th in the giant. Four years later, in Sarajevowon his first diploma in giant (6th), followed by that of Calgary (5th) and the sorrow of the giant, before making history in Albertville’92behind of Petra Kronberger (Austria) and Annelise Coberger (New Zealand), gold and silver. Without a doubt, his great sporting success, along with his four World Cup wins, before officially hanging up his skis in the Championship of Spain Baqueira Beret (1992).
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Blanca in one of her two GETTY descents
No trophy shines more and better in Blanca Fernández Ochoa’s list of winners than the Olympic bronze won at the Meribel station. A bronze that hid a great capacity for psychological overcoming – not only because of the jug of cold water four years ago, but also because of having to spend four hours waiting between descent and descent after being second in the initial heat, knowing that he had the medal for scope and the pressure that this represented, work in which the psychologist Albert Viade played a great role – and physical, punished as she was by a knee that almost left her on the verge of abandonment two years ago and by joints that she defined as “worn out”. For all this, between tears, Blanca pointed out that the bronze was “the greatest joy of my life. I am so excited because the sport has done me justice. It is the best payment for a whole series of efforts, of sacrifices that have lasted many years. And it doesn’t hurt me that the medal is bronze, because I had such a bad time in the second start that I thought the bronze would escape me”.
Blanca was also the perfect combination of strength and sensitivity, pure kindness and a born fighter, beyond what we can imagine.
A bronze that, like her niece, clarifies Paula to MD, “it tasted like gold to all of us. The first Olympic medal for a woman for Spain and, also, in winter sports, following in the footsteps of my father, a historic milestone! They achieved something unique, but not only sporting, but also earned the affection of the people, who always remember them for their laughter, their smile, their authenticity and the joy and life they radiated”, to which he added “Blanca was also the perfect combination of strength and sensitivity, pure kindness and a born fighter, beyond what we can imagine. 50 years have passed and Blanca continues to be a benchmark after her fall in Calgary, with all the pain that she entailed, she continued four more years at 200% until she got her Olympic medal. I smile looking at the sky because the two of them are there, making a great slalom together and toasting with all of us. They have left an eternal footprint. We love you, ‘Snow White’”.
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Blanca Fernández Ochoa covered the cover the day after her Olympic bronze MD
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