ENGLISH VERSION (click here!)
Those who know us deeply know that we love swimming. Signed as the most complete sport, swimming delivers an unquantifiable amount of body benefits, besides being a social activity. We have always felt a connection with the water. Perhaps our father's condition as a mountain man, in addition to the Andean people's fascination for the sea, inherited us genetically (cellular memory) that same love for large bodies of water. My father never learned to swim, but the same would not happen to his children. Our mother was the supervisor of the lessons received by all my siblings and this servant, in the Olympic swimming pool of the sports complex “Teo Capriles” located in the neighborhood “La Vega” of Caracas, dedicated precisely to one of the glories of Venezuelan cycling and swimming.
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ENGLISH VERSION (click here!)
It was the 70's when we had our first approach. We remember having seen the North American teacher Anna Simons training in the pool the Venezuelan butterfly glory Maria Hung, who qualified and competed in the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada 1976. Thus, we were trained by teachers of the highest quality and maximum demand. I also remember that on Fridays we were given the last half hour of training, to use the trampoline area for the exclusive use of those who trained in ornamental diving. It was a delight as children that we were, to receive such permission to socialize and jump into the water making funny figures, to make fun of the jumpers. I was the oldest of five siblings who went through the academy, in which one sister stood out above all: Carolina. She won in several competitions, in a time when medals were given only to the winners (the practice of giving medals to anyone is recent, thus causing the suppression of the feeling of frustration in children, an issue that they will need to handle as adults, but who am I to criticize?).
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ENGLISH VERSION (click here!)
In October of last year, I decided to do something about my body, sure -as I was- that I was hurting myself because of the incredible lack of movement. We got under control with an internist and the treatment I received has helped me to lose 16,500 Kgs. Unbeknownst to him, I was determined to get back in the pool when the weight hit a number I had in mind. I reached that number a week and a half ago and motivated also by our son @stow01, we decided it was time to follow through. He gave me the address of a swimming pool near where we are staying, called Club S. y D. Estrella de Maldonado, located at 5470 Salvador Street in Palermo neighborhood, here in Buenos Aires Cdad. The total of the registration fee, the membership card and the first month's fee came to $ARS 74,500, which gives us the right to use the club from Monday to Saturday at any time when there are no classes. It is a good deal for a month of freedom to swim at any time you want.
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ENGLISH VERSION (click here!)
The pool is semi-Olympic (distance of 25 meters from shore to shore), like all pools of its kind, one side is 0.80 meters from the bottom and the other is 2.00 meters deep. I think the water is heated because the first day it was freezing cold (19 °C) and when we entered, we stopped shivering our teeth. The training was slow given the lack of conditions, however, I did a lot more pools than I thought I would. This is due to another period where we also went on a diet and did swimming, but that time we had zero exercise since our childhood. We didn't get to use up the whole hour, but 40 minutes was enough (15 pools) for the first dive. We'll take it easy and report our progress at least once a week. Do you know how to swim? Have you ever practiced swimming? I read them in the comments.
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