Reyes
Estevez
starting over
Michael Butcher
for the IAAF
14 November
2001 - Madrid - A new
chapter is beginning in the career of
Spain’s middle distance star Reyes
Estevez. With his move to Soria to train
under the guidance of Enrique Pascual,
the boy from Barcelona has at 25 finally
left his roots behind.
The move was forced on Estevez by the retirement of his life-long coach Gregorio Rojo who at 81 had decided it was time to call it a day after suffering health problems.
It was Rojo who began the Spanish new wave of middle distance runners together with his most famous charge Jose Manuel Abascal. Abascal put the Spanish colours firmly on the map with his Olympic bronze behind Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram in the 1984 Olympics.
Now, after 50 days in the wilderness without a coach, Estevez has opted for Pascual, the man who took Fermin Cacho to Olympic gold in Barcelona just eight years after Abascal paved the way.
Pascual’s other most famous pupil is
double world marathon champion Abel
Anton who has just retired.
“Officially I’ve been without a coach
all this time, but I’ve been in
permanent contact with Gregorio who has
told me to keep on asking for advice as
long as I want,” said Estevez who vowed
he was “committed to work long and hard”
in an attempt to recapture his old form.
There will be no shortage of help in doing this at his new training base. Cacho is once again gearing himself up for a serious return and will be on Estevez’s shoulder on their training runs through the Valonsadero woods as well as the talented 800-metre runner Roberto Parra. The contact with Cacho even extends to living arrangements. Estevez has rented a house from the 1992 Olympic champion.
But the environment is not entirely new
to Estevez who is familiar with the
area: “I was there for a month before
the Seville world championships and last
year as well when my coach fell ill. I
have examined the pros and contras and
chosen Soria so that I can be more
focused. It’s a good place to train, a
little cold, but the altitude is also
important.” At 1,063 metres above sea
level, Estevez will get the benefit that
the altitude bestows. “After long runs I
shall start immediately with quality
sessions and a lot of strength
training,” he commented.
Estevez first came to the attention of the public with his 1993 European junior title before exploding onto the world scene with bronze in the Athens world championships four years later. In a tactical race with a barnstorming finish the man who had turned 21 on the day the championships opened just edged past Olympic champion Noureddine Morceli to snatch bronze behind Hicham El Guerrouj and Cacho.
In 1999 in Seville Estevez turned the tables on Cacho in a much faster race but still had to be content with third place. In between times there had been his imperious win in the 1988 Budapest European championships when he romped away from the field with Cacho taking bronze this time.
This year has been important for Estevez. After last year’s slump when he failed to break 3:40 for the 1500 metres and was left out of the Olympic squad he made something of a comeback by finishing fifth in Edmonton this summer in a respectable 3:32.34. Though a controversial selection he repaid the selectors’ faith in his talent by conserving his energy in the qualifying rounds to run strongly in the final.
That run ensured him a new three-year shoe contract that is performance linked. Had he had the same contract last year he would have earned no more than 20 percent of the total.
Last year’s dip in form put him in
danger of losing the subsidy of 3.5m
pesetas ($18,500) from the Spanish
athletic federation but that was saved
in the nick of time by his silver in the
world indoors in Lisbon in March.
Having come through the crisis, Estevez
is now looking forward to reproducing in
Soria with Pascual’s help the sort of
shape that makes him one of the most
feared middle distance runners in the
world.
