2023-08-06 21:17:25
The Olympic swimmer from Bellville, María Virginia Garrone, became the world masters world champion this Sunday morning, by winning the 100-meter freestyle in the World Cup that is being held in Japan.
The Cordoba, born on November 12, 1978, won the category between 45 and 49 years with a time of 1m02s05 to climb to the top of the podium, where she was escorted by the Greek Georgina Chatzigeorgiou (1m03s21) and the native of Hong Kong Shauna Krkalo (1m03s33).
In Garrone’s age group, 59 competitors participated.
The World Aquatics World Masters is held in Fukuoka and succeeds the Absolute World Cup on the calendar that was held last month and had three Cordoba women as Argentine representatives and two of them as semifinalists.
The new stage of Virginia Garrone
Virgina Garrone is 44 years old and is the mother of three children.
During her sports career, she suffered severe injuries that almost removed her from the pool without giving her the opportunity to become an Olympian in Sydney 2000, but she managed to recover and treasure those Games as the D-Day of her career.
After starting her family, the Bellville native returned to swimming in the masters category and broke more than 30 national records. She is also a trainer.
In her years in the nation’s elite, she became the only swimmer from South America to win eight gold medals in a South American (Peru 1994) and the first (and only Argentine) to win 15 gold medals in a National (2002 ).
Virginia Garrone, in Masters mode
Virginia Garrone was crowned world champion in Japan, at the age of 44. (@garronevirginia)
The Cordoba woman was an outstanding Argentine swimming medalist and shone in both the 200 and 400 meters combined.
His world title, however, came in Japan in the 100-meter freestyle.
His best time in that test was achieved at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, with 58s22 as only 16 years old.
The time of 1:02.05 that he achieved in the World Cup in Japan, however, is not far from the 1:01.03 that he set at 20 at the University Olympic Games in Mallorca in 1999.
To the World Cup, with help
To participate in the World Cup in Kyushu, Garrone appealed to the people for help and provided a bank account number to help her pay for the 3,000 dollars that the trip required, without official help.
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