Mariana Pajón: “Representing Colombia is all for me”

Mariana Pajón is commonly nicknamed “the Queen of BMX”.

Photo: Eder Rodríguez

As a child I dreamed of going to the Olympic Games and turning the world, very fast, on my pink bike. I fell in love with adrenaline and speed since childhood. At four years I began to compete against children, against fear, against fatigue. Sometimes it was at home; others, thousands of kilometers from the country. I fell many times, but I also won. I was fulfilling my dreams, one by one: in national, Latin American, worldwide races … and in the Olympics. I wrote my name in the history of sport.

You think you want to you, because you trained for years, you made sacrifices, you dreamed with that podium. At first you feel like this: you did it for you, for your family, for your coach, for your team. But then that moment comes, you get on the podium, the anthem begins to sound, you see your flag up and there you understand that it is not just for you. You move something inside.

Representing Colombia is all for me. It is what drives me, which continues to give me strength. When they say your name next to your country, when you wear the uniform of the selection, you feel something different. An extra impulse.

It is not a bad pressure, it is pretty. It is knowing that you take a whole country on the shoulders. That you are an ambassador on and off the track. And that is assumed with love, with commitment and pride.

Do not dimension the impact you have until someone approaches you and tells you. You return to the country and a child sees you and runs to hug you. Or an older person takes your hand and tells you: “Thank you for what you do for the country. Thank you because that day was having a really bad time and you gave me a lot of joy. Thank you for showing us that we can.” And there you understand everything. You say: “What a great responsibility … but how nice.” Because it is no longer just your triumphs, but what you are able to do with them.

When girls and boys approach me, for me it is the most beautiful. They tell me: “You're doing everything right. It doesn't matter if you win or lose.” At that time your triumphs are leaving a legacy and giving an example to a child. When they tell me: “I want to be like you, I want to compete like you,” I know that my mission is fulfilled. I tell you to continue dreaming, that there is no too big dream, that they can achieve everything. You have to work for that. And you have to go for the opportunities, not wait for them to arrive. You have to open your own path, many times against everything.

Today I live another stage. Now I'm a mother. And when you are in that new role, thoughts, insecurities, beautiful things are coming … all at the same time.

My husband, Vincent Pelluard, and I decided that our son was born here. That is Colombian, Colombian. That grows in a healthy environment. Our country hurts a lot, but now it hurts a little more, because it is no longer just for you. That is what you want for your child.

I have five months pregnant. And if he or she wants to be an athlete, I will be there. If you want to touch piano, sing, whatever … too. The important thing is to be. Accompany. Believe.

I have been able to continue training. I even rode the track until it was risky. They stopped me. I assumed it. The body changes. You grow forward, more weights. Everything becomes more challenging, but you have to continue moving. I have prepared for that baby that we long for arrive … and to return to the clues in the best way, because my career continues. It is loaded with big dreams. Because dreams don't end. When you turn one, you realize that you can go even further. After being a mom, of adapting, to give life, everything will have a new meaning. Being a mother was an impulse that I needed, and now I imagine some small hands and screams in the stands of Los Angeles, screaming for the mother.

Now I will not only compete in BMX, but also on the track. In the equipment speed mode. I always liked the track. It has always been part of my training for the BMX and I feel that I can contribute there. They tell me that I am crazy, but I am a dreamer and I am not still.

One does not start thinking that it will be an example. One begins for love, for passion, for the desire to fulfill their own dreams. You concentrate on training, to improve, to go further. Only in that. But over the years one matures. The experience is showing you that the triumphs are not the end, but just the beginning. And then you wonder: what else can I contribute, in addition to winning?

I have been fortunate to have incredible team and, above all, with the values that instilled me since I was a child. The sport formed me, yes, but what has really trained Mariana has been my family. Not the champion. To the person.

And yes, of course I was wrong. I have done things that then make me think: “Why didn't I do it better? Eye, that the children are seeing me.” But mistake also teaches. Wrong makes you more human. It forces you to stop, recognize and grow.

There is also the great Fondito, which is my other baby. A sports festival for girls and boys between the ages of 12 and 14, and their families. It already has two editions. This year will be done in Barranquilla. What is lived there is joy, values, respect, sport, bicycle, skates, running and family. It is my form – and that of my family – to return something to the country. To sow.

I think I have contributed a way of thinking. A strong mentality. A way of saying: “Yes you can.” That if you dream and work … you arrive. You can get up from an injury. At one blow. Whatever. I also believe that I have contributed so that our government, our institutions, public and private, understand that sport is a means of country construction. It is investing in a country, is to build healthy generations, with values, with dreams.

Today, July 20, I want to leave a message: empathy, respect and pride of being Colombians. Yes we can get ahead. Yes we can get up from the sadness, of the blows. Yes we can think differently and, even so, build the same country. Yes we can respect ourselves and recognize that we all have something valuable to contribute. Thank you, Colombia, for allowing me to be an ambassador of this land that I carry in my heart.

Adapted by Kevin Stiven Ramírez Quintero | kramirez@elespectador.com