Adiaratou Iglesias, the Spanish athlete who wins medals without seeing the track lines or the finish line

The Spanish Paralympic athlete Adiaratou Iglesias does not see the lines of the tracks on which she runs or the finish line. She has only 10% vision due to albinism, but she competes and wins, even against able-bodied athletes. The sprinter who fled Mali for being albino, she won a gold in the 100 meters and a silver in the 400 at the recent Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

“It is very difficult for me to explain how I see because I have always seen that way. When I put on the studs and go out, I see the two lateral lines of the track in the first three meters. From them, I no longer distinguish the lines and I have to take many references when it comes to reaching the goal. We use things that are visible to me: the judges’ chair, or a lamppost, which is usually huge. And other times, my coach stands at the goal and yells at me: “Adi, come on, put your chest in now”said the sprinter to Mark.

The fact of having little vision has not been an impediment to shine in athletics. Iglesias does not see the lines of the athletic track, nor the finish line, but she is the first to cross it even in championships with able-bodied athletes. “I don’t know where my limits are, I don’t want to set them. I don’t know what I’m capable of. The only thing I know is that I still have a lot to give and I would like to continue improving”confess.

Your way to gold

He discovered athletics on television when he was just 7 years old. She knew from then on that she wanted to dedicate herself to him, but she was also clear that she would never make it in Mali. in his native country he never left his neighborhood for his own safetysince albinos there are persecuted and sometimes even killed.

“I knew that once a year there were people who they went out to chase albinos to kill them or cut off a member of the body and have it as a good luck charm. In Mali they believe that alive we do not bring good luck, but dead “told Marca a long time ago.

“Life would be completely different (to the current one) if I were still there. Most likely, at the age of 14, I would have married. Most likely, she was a housewife taking care of the children.”counted. “I came from a very different place, where most of the houses were shacks in shantytowns. Things like getting into an elevator were different.”he added.

To avoid danger, her parents sent her to Spain, where one of his brothers lived. He was only 11 years old and had to leave everything behind. He ended up in a Juvenile Center, where he met his adoptive mother. Months after her, he went to live in the city of Lugo, in Galicia, with her.

Lina Iglesias was the one who encouraged her to practice her passion. “Can you imagine being able to go to a World Cup or a Paralympic Games one day?”he told her once. And today she not only imagines it, but she is already a Paralympic champion. That dream has come true.