Atlanta, 1996. A young man José Manuel Ruiz He played his first Paralympic Games. At that time he was barely eighteen. Even for him it was difficult to imagine the trip he was waiting for. Because In Paris 2024 the Granada Palist has played his eighth games, Spanish absolute record After leaving behind the seven editions in which the Santamarta purification athlete participated.
From legend to legend. With three silver and two bronzes in the games, Ruiz, to their 46 yearshas lived a new Olympic appointment. He has done it in the individual and double table tennis modalities. In both he is already eliminated, but he has expanded his story again in his sport. He has also done it with A very fought presence after a serious Achilles tendon injury that has made him need time to meet himself.
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After a life being a benchmark for table tennis, Ruiz, without the right forearm, has had to reinvent himself in recent years to continue above due to the continuous evolution of his sport. The arrival of young talents and the growing competitiveness of table tennis require constant evolution to continue in the elite. “I feel a lot of emotion and a lot of joy of having had the opportunity to play these eighth games. It is I who competed, the one I enjoy. If it were not for the work that is of all the people who are with me and that surrounds me (coach, physio, nutritionist, psychologist, physical trainer, marketing, sparring, friends, family ..) This would not be possible. It is the work of all that team, ”he explains.
A team that has accompanied him to become the first Spanish athlete with eight games behind him. “See also that we make Spain records of participations and in a sport such as table tennis in which no athlete has played eight games, they were Olympic or Paralympic, It gives value to our work. It should not be easy to get and maintainso it is a reward for so many years of effort, ”he explains.
He knows it well. Decades arrived and has been maintained for years in the first line. But, during the way to the Paris Games, José Manuel Ruiz has had to overcome hard blows. A serious injury shortly before Tokyo games He committed his presence in them. The Achilles tendon decided four months before the appointment to be able to go to it, but the bulk of the recovery lived during this cycle.
“I had to make modifications in my game. I used to play with my right -wing blow. At the strength level on the right foot I have lost a little for the tendon and that has forced me to modify my blows,”
“This time has been to recover, to be competitive again And having that feeling of being able to win any rival, ”explains Ruiz about what his focus on the road to Paris has been.“ In the Open of Brazil of March, one of the most prestigious tournaments, I managed to beat and win in the final the Olympic runner -up in Tokyo Matéo Bohéas. That gave me confidence and motivation to continue preparing the games in the best possible way, ”he says.
José Manuel Ruiz has participated in the individual and double paintings in the Paris Games
These have not come out of the dream form for him. He was eliminated in the round of 16 of his class, the 10, after losing 1-3 against the Chilean Manuel Echaveguren. In doubles, he fell into his eighth debut with Alejandro Díaz in the match against the Chinese Lian and Zhao 1-3. “It was the first big competition we played together in doublesbecause he was going to Paris with another partner. We had barely played a tournament together and the first favorites touched us, ”laments Ruiz.
A hard path to that moment
The truth is that, although this time he has not been able to fight for the medals (Ruiz has three silver and two bronzes in the games), the Paris games have had great value for him because they have shown that, at 46, he is able to overcome the circumstances to continue in the elite. Age and injury are two good signs of it. “I had to make modifications in my game”tells how one of the keys to having managed to compete in Paris after his physical problems. “Before I tried to play with my right -wing blow. At the strength level on the right foot I have lost a bit for the tendon and that has forced me to modify my blows,” he explains.
Despite his experience, Ruiz continues to learn every day. “After the injury we have worked many hours and we have analyzed many videos to see how to cover the weak points,” says José Manuel. In the absence of the option of preparing the physicist and the game, the break months served to reinforce him at a mental level on his way to total recovery. “I felt toppe in March. Before, it was intermittently”José Manuel confesses. “It was weird because I was always used to fighting for medals. In Tokyo, for the circumstances of the injury, participating was already a medal and a miracle. We won time to time, but until months later I could not be fully,” he says.
“We assumed a combination of risk and security. I spent months training and competing with a splint that made the tendon have a reduced mobility depending on what medical services considered that it was possible”
Time is what he had to win to be in Paris. It was clear that despite the physical difficulties and that serious injury that has cost him to recover, his great dream were his eighth games. “We assume a combination of risk and security. I spent months training and competing with a splint that made the tendon have a reduced mobility depending on what medical services considered it possible, ”explains Ruiz.
He worked physically as never to get to Paris, but also mentally. “It was very complicated. At the moment they told me the seriousness of the injury I had to reset. There were many people around me who did not drop me. I had to mourning, but just an hour was there because there were many people by my side. You had to gain time to time, “he recalls about those moments.
José Manuel Ruiz has sealed his eighth participation in Paralympic Games in Paris
His experience is a degree and has served him to continue believing in his options to be in Paris when perhaps the logic invited the opposite. “After the experience of getting to Tokyo I learned to meet much more, to value things. Spend time alone, in recovery, it helps you relativize what sport is,” explains Ruiz. “Before, when a bad result came, I felt the world ended. But Now I feel that sport is relatively important, because in difficult times the people who are by your side tell”He reports.
That is the greatest learning that has taken the road to Paris and these games. “To value things much more, the moments you live. The surrounding of people who accompany you at good times and not so good. Enjoying every moment, of each trip, of each game … The greatest learning is acquired in moments of difficulty and I am lucky to have my family next to me, ”says José Manuel.“ I have been in Madrid working between eight and nine hours to recover between 'Fisios', doctors, gym … These are moments when you give you time to reflect on the important things in life”, dice.
“Now I feel that sport is relatively important, because in difficult times the people who are by your side tell”
Therefore, because he knows what he has had to suffer to play his eighth games, José Manuel Ruiz leaves Paris 2024 with the very quiet consciousness. “The goal was to give my bestbecause winning or losing also depends on other factors. We knew that the medals were complicated, but the games have been special, ”he says.
Once finished, it's time to think about the future. “I am going to take a reflection period to assess how I have felt competitive and, depending on this, decide whether or not to continue internationally,” he says. “I do not close the doors to Los Angeles, but it is not that I have that appointment in mind”says Ruiz. He knows the importance of enjoying each step along the way, because he has had a bad time in recent years. But also that there is nothing impossible for him: his continuous reinvention before the hard blows received has made him The record of Spanish Paralympic sport.
