Jorge ‘Masa’ Zegarra, the 71-year-old swimmer who was sponsored by a YouTube program to win the gold medal of the Masters Swimming World Championship

You had to listen to Jorge Zegarra’s conviction to know that the return flight from Japan was going to be with a medal on his chest. The popular ‘Masa’ wanted it that way and he achieved it by winning the platform test of the World Masters of Swimming, which has been taking place in Kyushu (Japan).

The 71-year-old Peruvian won the gold medal in one of the most difficult tests, as he executed two jumps from a height of 5 meters and another two from 7.5 meters to prevail against local and European specialists.

“He’s happy, because he was really looking forward to that medal,” Gioconda Cabrejos, the coach who accompanies the national delegation in Japan, tells us, since Jorge is crossing the world on his way back home.

‘Masa’ won the gold medal in the 70-74 age category, with a score of 120.40, leaving British Jm McNally (115.55) and Belgian Giocanni Dolcimascolo (114) in second place.

With that victory, he pulled the nail out of the three-meter springboard event, where he was one point behind third place to climb to the podium. Meanwhile, in one meter springboard he achieved sixth place.

Jorge is the coach of the Peruvian diving team, formerly called ornamental jumps, and encouraged by Gioconda he decided to compete in the Pan American Master last year in Medellín (Colombia), where he won three gold medals, with which he qualified for the World Cup.

Given the lack of support, ‘Masa’ went to the popular You Tube program “HH” by Ricardo Mendoza and Jorge Luna, and it was there that he managed to get the company “Paracas” to help him with the tickets to go to Japan in search of gold. world championship, a challenge that he met last Monday in the platform test.

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—More achievements—

The delegation of more than ten Peruvians is making history in Japan and Jorge Zegarra’s is not the only medal. Ana María Canaval won two silver medals, one in 3 km of open water and the other in the 400 medley in the 70-74 years category.

While Fernando Cánepa Bustamante is the one with the most medals since he won three of them: silver in 3 km open water and 800 freestyle meters and bronze in the 400 medley in the 75-79 years, José Peñaloza won the silver in the 800 free (90-94 years) and Carlos César Cánepa the silver in the 800 meters (40-44 years).

The World Cup ends on Friday and more Peruvians are looking for medals. They are an example of life and sportsmanship for a country that must learn from their values ​​and effort to continue growing.

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