Venezuelan Daniel Dhers made history on Wednesday by becoming the coach who led China’s Yawen Deng to an unprecedented gold medal in the women’s BMX Freestyle cycling, Park category.
The extreme sports event was held at La Concorde 2, where the 18-year-old Asian, who has been trained by Dhers since 2023, achieved a score of 92.60 in her second run, to take home the gold award, the eighth for her country’s team in this great universal competition. This allowed China to take the medal count at the meeting on French soil.
The winner was American Perry Benegas, who received a score of 90.70. The bronze medal went to Australian Nathalia Dhem, who had a score of 88.80.
Time
Dhers, who failed to secure a spot as an athlete in the men’s acrobatics competition at Paris 2024, has emerged as the ideal coach to tap into the potential of China’s cyclists after winning multiple world titles and a silver medal as an athlete at Tokyo 2020, an event that was postponed in 2021 due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Olympics.com, Deng’s achievement allowed the native to consolidate his status as “BMX Freestyle Revolutionary”, because he is one of the main people responsible for the specialty being practiced in China.
The 39-year-old from Caracas feels very proud of the triumph of his pupil, who heads a group of riders known for being very disciplined, something he believes was the main reason for his success.
“They are very competitive, they like to train and that helps my job to be more focused on giving them direction. I don’t have to be with a whip saying, ‘look, you have to do this’. So I’m happy and excited,” said the instructor who still does not speak Mandarin and gives instructions to his students with the help of a translator. He gives them each of the instructions in English.
“They don’t speak English fluently because they are still learning, whereas I know more Chinese. When I have to tell them something very technical, I need an assistant,” she told the AP news agency.
Pick up at the door
Although he still feels physically fit enough to compete in top-level tournaments, Dhers knows that retirement is just around the corner. He will stop performing his aerial stunts at the Abu Dhabi World Cup (United Arab Emirates) in December.
“I am still riding (bikes), but here in Paris I have dedicated myself to being China’s coach and it is a great role. I am there, feeling the nerves as if I were competing. It is very similar. When my students fall, I feel like I stumbled, it is a different feeling and I know that retirement is near,” added the man from Ciego de Avila who was responsible for Jiaqui Sung finishing seventh in the BMX Free Style final, dominated by Deng, with a score of 70.80.
For the time being, he intends to remain at the helm of the Asian Giant, as he feels quite comfortable with the role of training new talents.
“I will continue because this means a lot to BMX. It may sound strange because China is very new to this, but it is a country that is known for being a big investor in the sport. I know that they will do it now thanks to this result: a very important injection of money for BMX Freestyle Cycling, which will help to develop it.”
He is no stranger to the national theme
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dhers referred to the political crisis in Venezuela, which has been the scene of protests since Monday following the results of Sunday’s presidential elections, after which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner.
Amid allegations of repression against young people, as announced by opposition leaders led by presidential candidate Edmundo González and renowned leader María Corina Machado – who claimed to have the records proving the victory of the candidate of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) – Dhers called for peace and unity among members of politically antagonistic sectors.
“I am very attentive, I do not want to make a political statement, but I want people to stop killing each other. Venezuela is a great country, unfortunately we have not been able to understand each other for many years. I only want my nation to emerge from this like a Phoenix and for us to be able to live in peace, with a good quality of life,” he concluded.
Valencia / Joseph Ñambre
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2024-08-03 02:16:57