Olympic athlete Gustavo Ribeiro, who won the world skateboarding circuit by triumphing at Supercrown, in Rio de Janeiro, told Lusa this Wednesday that he wants to prove he’s “made for this” and extend his dominance in the sport.
“I want to prove that it’s not just one time. That I’m really made for this and that I’ll get many more titles, not just one,” the Almada-born ‘skater’ explains in an interview with Lusa.
On November 6, he became world champion in Brazil, days later he was received at a party at Lisbon airport, and he admits that he “had to watch the video of the final several times to see if it really happened” .
“It was a unique race. I prepared well for it. I promised myself that last year [em que foi terceiro], who had to win the Super Crown this year. The test was honestly contrived. It was very difficult,” he recalls.
After I seemed to be “always on top, in the lead”, the truth is that the proof that “it’s never guaranteed” is that, at the entrance of the last attempt, “I was second”.
“I saw myself losing almost everything, but in the last maneuver I succeeded. It was very lucky, but it was not easy at all,” he says.
Prior to the ‘Super Crown’, Gustavo Ribeiro had won the third and penultimate stage, in Las Vegas, in the United States, on the weekend of October 8 and 9, after closing the podium in Jacksonville, followed by a seventh place in Seattle.
In the decisive stage it was the last ‘trick’ that gave him the advantage over the American Braden Hoban.
A ‘Portuguese-style’ triumph, he admits, following the custom in national sport of achieving success at the end, be it a ‘play-off’ for entry into World Cups or European Championships, in football or Miguel Oliveira’s victory in MotoGP, in the Styrian Grand Prix in 2020.
“It even gave me goosebumps [ao pensar na comparação]🇧🇷 It’s true, you know? Sometimes it may sound bad, but that’s who we are. It doesn’t matter how much pressure we are going to apply to ‘spin’ the game. It’s just believing in yourself, and it’s not how it starts, it’s how it ends,” he says.
At the age of 21, he won the title he had dreamed of since he was little, achieved “in a very beautiful way”, but that does not leave him “satisfied”.
“I’m not happy with what I have, I want to keep this title as long as possible. A hard part is done, winning the title. The hardest part now is to keep it. It’s going to be complicated, but I like challenges Life, without challenges, it wasn’t funny,” he shoots.
Gustavo Ribeiro is “very confident” in the skateboarding he has produced, “and the Portuguese know” that he “will not give up a great opportunity”, referring to Paris2024, after finishing eighth in the modality’s debut in the Olympic program , at Tokyo2020.
“I won’t get many chances to go to the Olympics, three or four. It will be the second and I want to make the best of it, see if I can finally bring home an Olympic medal,” he said.
Source: DN
