Kimberly García: “I have already been a champion, but I have not yet achieved my dream of an Olympic medal”

For this effort, for these achievements, the national walker was chosen by readers and journalists as the winner of the DT Anniversary Grand Prix, a recognition of the best athletes of the last three decades. This week we received her in her writing together with the Viú team: a long list of fans were waiting for her to take a picture of her. “They are recognitions that value our effort”, she says with the beautiful trophy in her hands.

—How do you live after success, so much success?

I take it quite calmly, because I know that what I have achieved is still not the ultimate dream that I have set myself since I was little. I miss the Olympics. I am not under pressure, I am motivated to train very hard for the World Cup, because what is coming is not going to be easy.

Why more difficult? Personally or competitively?

Because of the rivals, they will see me more, where I will be competing, what am I doing, as I did with them before: I followed the Chinese champion, I saw what she did before each competition, how she rested, what she ate. But I’m pretty focused, wanting more. I want to keep winning.

—How do you charge now the fact of being a world champion?

There are days when the same people tell you: “Kimberly, we want the medal”, “We want to see you on the podium”. In a way, you can feel pressured, but I work with a psychologist for that. I have already been a champion, I have already celebrated it at the time and I have known how to turn the page and concentrate on what is coming. That moment has passed and we focus on the present.

“What’s next for you now?”

On March 25 my competition is coming to Slovakia, then in April I’m going to Poland, Portugal, Madrid, the Czech Republic and La Coruña.

—Where do you plan to look for the brand for Paris 2024?

I will look for the brand for the Games in Poland or Rio Maior. In Dudinska (Slovakia) I will enter the 35km.

“At your level, ranking seems to be a given.

We are not so concerned about the mark, because they ask for 1:29:20 and my time is 1:26:58. Let’s see how we progress in each competition. Perhaps in Poland we will make the mark or if they ask me to recover well from Slovakia, we will march at a different pace and go to Portugal for the mark.

—The World Cup in August was your last competition. How do you feel about going back? Costs?

No, because it’s been six months and I feel calm. I am not nervous, I am quite confident in what I do, in the process, in what the coach sends me.

—Now you are going as the rival to win…

[Risas] It makes me laugh a little, because even though I dreamed it, I didn’t think of making it come true like this, that it was going to happen this way. But I work a lot with the psychologist so I don’t think about it, so I don’t put pressure on them to keep an eye on me. I work a lot so that I don’t get nervous, which is normal. We visualize a lot what I want, I focus a lot on myself.

—And with so much success, does one also speak of failure?

We try not to think about it too much. We do see it with the coach and he tells me: “Don’t put too much pressure on just winning, because it may be that you improve your brand and thus finish fifth. You don’t have to be disappointed because you’ve given your best and you’ve improved your scoring and that’s what’s important”. Regardless of the medal, in each competition I will give my best.

“And how do you battle with that?” You have always been quite competitive.

Before, yes, he put too much pressure on me. She would go to every competition and say “I’m going to win, I’m going to win.” And if I didn’t win, it made me sad, it frustrated me. Now I take it more calmly, I try to think about what I have to improve.

—You will go to the World Cup to defend two medals…

Now the challenge is greater. In the last World Cup the difference was seven days, now it is only three. We start with the 20km and then the 35km. We are seeing how the recovery will be. If last year at 7 days I was still in pain, now… So we are seeing, the idea is to enter both but if I finish the 20 very badly it will be impossible. That will be evaluated at the moment.

—Then Santiago 2023, with a personal revenge as well

In Lima 2019 I won the silver medal: I want to improve that. There are also 20 and 35km, but the 35 will be for mixed teams. That is not yet clear how it will be evaluated.

“The target is Paris?”

Paris is something else. The Games are something else. In Tokyo, they expected a lot from me and it didn’t happen. I’m going to go to Paris with everything, but I don’t try to think about it too much, it’s like suffering before my time: I have other competitions before and you have to think about that. When the Pan American Games are over I will just be with all my senses in Paris.

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