Joel Rodríguez, Olympic sailor and the Spanish jewel of the ILCA 7
Sometimes, we connect with our passion by chance or because someone initiates us in that area unexpectedly. This is the case of Joel Rodríguez, ILCA 7 sailing specialist and Olympic sailor in Tokyo 2020.
This Canarian, from Las Palmas, began his story with regattas when he was 9 years old. This island is known for its great sailing tradition. This, together with the sporting values that Joel’s parents instilled in him and his brother, created the perfect breeding ground for the latter to start sailing. Soon, Joel followed in his footsteps and what was initially a hobby they enjoyed on weekends eventually became his life.
«I remember that I enjoyed myself a lot outside and inside the sea, because the atmosphere that surrounds sailing is very goodJoel tells Think Big. The Las Palmas sailing club is made up of various professionals in regattas with honors and even Olympic or world medals. Joel knew that his place was there and he was clear that he wanted to be like those people: train, travel, compete, etc. And he did it.
A hard fought and quick arrival at the ILCA 7 category
This sport is mainly made up of boating and sailing. As the sailors vary in weight, they change sails, which does not mean they change boats – although it is still a decision between the athlete and the team. For example, Within the ILCA 7 category there are three types of sails:
- Laser 470 dinghy sailis the smallest candle and is aimed at children or youth.
- Radial laseris the women’s Olympic sailing.
- ILCA 7formerly known as Laser, is the men’s Olympic sailing.
In Joel’s case, the sail change happened without waiting too long. After his first podiums in the Laser 470 category, where he won the Spanish Children’s Championship and managed to qualify for the European and World Championships, he would rise to the ILCA 7 category. «Thanks to this, I was able to reach the higher categories earlier to be able to compete with sailors older than meJoel confesses.
Podium: support to fight for the Olympics
In most sports, the professionals who practice it struggle day after day to be able to continue dedicating themselves to what they really like. However, there are sports that do not have as much visibility and athletes cannot live from it. Reason why they need scholarships that allow them worry about the economic part and being able to focus on elite sport.
Thus, in 2014, Joel received a call that would mark a before and after in his career as a sailor. Precisely in that year, the Podium Scholarship Program was launched to support young promises of Spanish Olympic sport, developed by Telefónica and the Spanish Olympic Committee. This support allows 88 athletes to fight for their Olympic dream.
«If it had not been for Podium, it would not have been possible to dedicate my life to sailingJoel admits. Between training and competitions he finds time to study Sports Science and Physical Activity at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM). Although he is clear that, for the moment, his focus is sailing and that is what he does.
A long awaited Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Between training and competitions came the Olympics. Sailing, unlike other sports, has a different classification method. First you have to classify the country individually, by Olympic categories. Once the country is inside, the Federationdetermines the rules for the selection of the person that represents the country.
This is how Joel managed to qualify for Spain in the Tokyo Olympics with a ninth place in Portugal, where there were about 150 boats. Spain was the first non classified country to qualify and thanks to this good result, it got a place to be the representative of Spain in the ILCA7 7 category. «All your life fighting for that dream and when you achieve it, it’s incredible“, bill. From that moment on, Joel knew that his focus and all his efforts were in the Japanese country.
Three months later, the Spanish Olympic team of sailors landed in the Olympic village. The sailing athletes they do not share a villa with the rest of the Olympianssince the sailing venue is located in an area where you can sail, in this case, it was held on the island of Enoshima.
Joel remembers that, on the opening day, they went to the Olympic village, located in the center of Tokyo, and that day he really lived the experience of the Olympics: «at the opening the basketball team was cheering on all the athletes with songs; In the dining room, people surrounded Djokovic asking for photos … ».
Olympic sailing: how regattas work
The days that followed were of work and training to be as well prepared as possible for the regattas. The Olympic format is the same as that used in the rest of the competitions. This consists of 10 regattas to be carried out in 6 days. During the first 5 days the sailors make 2 starts. The way to score is as follows: a first position adds one point and a tenth place is 10 points. Thus, until the sixth day, when the final is held with the top 10 classified. In these regattas the score is double, that is, for a first there are 2 points and for a tenth, 20. The score of every day is added and thus the classification is obtained.
The duration of each regatta is far from the weather conditions of the day. In general, on a day with moderate wind it can take approximately three and a half hours to do the 2 races. «Less than that time is very complicated“, Explain. But, the duration varies constantly. The sailors cannot compete with a minimum wind below 9 knots, 5 kilometers per hour of wind and with a maximum above 25 knots, around 45 or 50 kilometers per hour of wind. When these casuistries do not occur, they have to wait to see if the wind increases or decreases, reaching waits of between 7 and 9 hours.
Next challenge: the 2024 Paris Olympics
Finally, Joel ranked sixteenth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “It was a very special regatta. Sailors are not used to media attention and having journalists asking you how things went is very special«, he confesses.
This canary is a promise of sailing that is clear that it wants to reach the top. His competitive, self demanding and constant spirit is leading him to be among the best in the world in this sport. He is clear that he wants to fight to go to the 2024 Paris Olympics: «for me the challenge for Paris is to raise the level to be able to fight for a medal«, assures
- James Webb, when telecommunications transcended the earth On December 25, 2021, NASA, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), successfully launched on…
- How to find out if your devices are compatible with WiFi 6 The standard IEEE802.11axwhich we know as WiFi 6has been with us since 2019, which is when the early devices compatible.…
- Technological garbage, a problem with many solutions Is named electronic waste or technological waste waste originating from electrical and electronic components or devices. Broken, irreparable, unusable, obsolete……
- Tim 5G Power Unlimited: new offer with ALL UNLIMITED Tim 5G Power Unlimited is the interesting telephone offer that, in June, the company decided to put at the service…
- Technology: an ally of the LGTBI collective in the work environment For some time now, LGBTI diversity has become a core aspect in the HR policies of many companies. Although Spain…
- Stories of female hackers: meet Irene Gómez, director of Open… And you, what do you want to be when you grow up? According to a report by the CYD Foundation…
- AI designs an enzyme that ‘eats’ plastic in days The world works to end the consumption of plastic. There are already several companies that have eliminated this compound from…
- From ClassMate to TikTok Extra’s Living App: How Social Media Has… I bet the first thing you do when you wake up is pick up your mobile phone. Perhaps your first…
- PosteMobile: the 8.99 euro offer continues with 300 gigabytes PosteMobile 300% Digital is the interesting offer that, until Thursday 30 June, the operator will put at the service of…
- Very 4.99: the offer is back with unlimited minutes and text messages… Very 4.99 is the surprising offer that, during the month of June, the operator is again putting at the service…
- Metaverse and children: what are they exposed to Children have always faced a technology exhibitionthat it consists of different risks when they surf the internet or use applications;…
- Vodafone challenges Iliad: offer with minutes, sms and 100GB for just… Vodafone Special Giga BTL it is the particular offer that, also in June, the operator decided to put at the…
- Decentralized organizations: what is a DAO and what is its role within… A concept that the arrival of web3 has put on the table is the DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), which means…
- What is grooming: tips to avoid and deal with it If you are reading this article, you are probably wondering what is grooming. Well, this concept is used to refer…
- Tronsmart Groove 2: compact and technological speakers! This summer Tronsmart, a brand now known and appreciated for the quality of its products, has decided to update the…
- WindTre: new offer with minutes, sms and 240 gigabytes for only €… WindTre MIA 240 Easy Pay is the advantageous offer that, in June, the company decided to put at the service…
- Deepfake: what is it, 3 real cases and how to detect it The deepfake It is another example of how technology is getting closer to not being able to differentiate it from…
- Things you should do when you open your new UHD TV Who does not like it launch something new. Those smells, those sensations, the novelties of that new product that you…
- Everything the metaverse should offer us Although there is a lot of talk about the metaverse, there are usually two questions that are repeated with some…
- Women Hacker Stories: Meet Hajar from Wiper Once upon a time…, oh no, today we are not talking about princesses, we are talking about female hackers. We…
- Nothing officially presents its first smartphone, Nothing Phone (1) After weeks of rumors, Nothing finally announced yesterday its first smartphone, the Nothing Phone 1, at a launch event. Led…
- Vodafone: offer with unlimited minutes and text messages, 100GB for… Vodafone Special 100 Digital Edition is the particular offer that, in May, the operator is putting at the service of…
- What strategy should we follow against hyperconnectivity? What is hyperconnectivity? According to the Cervantes Institute, it is the direct translation of the Anglo Saxon term hyperconnectivity. It…
- SELFIE: the European tool that helps integrate technology and… With the suggestive name of SELFIE, the European Commission has designed a tool that helps educational centers to “integrate digital…
- WiFi 7 is here: we give you the keys to the new generation The Wi Fi 7the new version of the connectivity standard, is going to take Internet speed to a whole new…
- Laura Heredia, the promise of the modern pentathlon who dreams of… The modern pentathlon It is a sport that came into Laura Heredia’s life when she was barely 5 years old.…
- 4 races that are necessary to build the metaverse Building the metaverse is no easy task. Talents are required to devise even the smallest detail so that the user…
- Train at home with Volava and interconnect your devices for a complete… Have you ever thought how interesting it would be to play sports from home if it were much more dynamic…
- Iliad Giga 120: the € 9.99 super offer continues in June Iliad Giga 120 is the advantageous telephone offer that the company, in the month of June, is still putting at…
- Iberia: a new way of traveling thanks to experiential tourism? Tourism is only growing. More and more people decide to travel and visit new cities. Faced with this phenomenon, Air…
- LoRaWAN and the advantages of its use in IoT IoT devices (Internet of things, in Spanish) and their connection protocol LoRaWAN they continue to expand to all corners of…
- Who should set the rules of the metaverse? In theory, everything that happens in Internet is governed by law. The doubt usually always lies in what legislation applies…
- Web3 and metaverse: reasonable differences and similarities In the space time continuum that is the Internet, two of the most talked about concepts in recent years are…
- WindTre: new offer with minutes, sms and 100 gigabytes starting from €… WindTre MIA 100 Easy Pay is the advantageous offer that, in June, the company decided to put at the service…
- E learning in 2022: know the impacts of technology It is a fact that thousands of people today opt for virtual education. New technologies changed the world and education…
- From Play to earn to move to earn: where we are going in gaming Many of us have not yet forgotten that time when children, adolescents, and adults walked the streets of their towns…
- Bilingual education: 5 benefits of learning a second language The need to learn languages today is not in dispute. We live in a globalized world in which at any…
- Plant trees: Telefónica’s commitment after joining 1t.org «If I knew that the world would end tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today.«. This phrase is from…
- The power of decentralization: what it is and what it consists of… Since the appearance of the Internet in 1982, the network has constantly evolved. The digital transformation It has no brake…
- Multicloud: discover what it consists of and what advantages it has The cloud is one of the most important innovations in the information age. And inside her, multi cloud offers various…
- Remake of video game titles that you will enjoy over and over again Being a medium that is always changing, it is very easy for video games to become “outdated”. Hence, one of…
- Tim Steel New GPRO: the new € 7.99 offer that challenges Iliad Tim Steel New GPRO is the interesting telephone offer that, in June, the company decided to put at the service…
- Without taboos or sermons, dialogues and care in digital environments Being a mother, father or caregiver was always a huge challenge. To the pride, emotion and happiness of raising and…
- «I dream of fighting for the Olympic qualification», Alejandro Huerta,… Beach volleyball is a sport that has been in the lives of Alexander Huertapractically all his life. This man from…
- Google Pixel 7, a prototype is already on sale on ebay A few days after Google I / Oduring which we were offered a small teaser on the next Pixel 7,…
- Android 12’s Material You arrives on iOS 16 Yesterday Apple announced the arrival of iOS 16, the latest version of your operating system. Among the various innovations, the…
- The best apps to plan and enjoy this summer Less than a few days before summer begins and we are already going crazy ‘designing’ the ones that will be…
- Everything you need to know about Movistar Plus+ Profiles What times those in which who had the remote I had control of the television. Fortunately, those times have changed.…
- Tim Supergiga DOUBLES: the offer price does not change Tim Supergiga 40 is the interesting telephone offer that, in May, the company is putting at the service of consumers.…
- Elon Musk and Twitter: what is happening and what is its future? April 2022 was a very newsy month regarding technology, especially because an announcement was made regarding a popular social network…