“Now I am a pillar for my fat woman and I cannot even allow myself a moment of pressure, of depression”

Paris 2024 is special for Belén House. Here he will compete in his third Olympic Games, after the experiences of Rio de Janeiro 2016 y Tokio 2020. But they will be the first for her as a mother. Fourteen months after the birth of Linathe 29-year-old from Mar del Plata came to the French capital with her family and two very clear objectives: achieve an ambitious sporting result and enjoy this experience, with that new perspective on sport and life that he has since the arrival of his daughter. And by the way, refute once again, as she already did in the Santiago Pan American Games 2023that myth that says that motherhood and high-performance sports are not compatible.

“I left Lina at daycare, with her dad close by”says Casetta when he arrives to meet with Clarion, in the International Zone of the Olympic Village. And she is already beginning to show that with desire and will, it is not impossible to start a family and continue to be competitive at the highest level.

“My husband is accompanying me here. Just as my 80-year-old grandmother accompanied me to the rallies in Cachi, Salta, or my sister or my mother-in-law, who went with me on a trip to Spain. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to be in these Games. Family is fundamental, it is key“he reflects.

Belén is authentic when she speaks. He thinks about the answers, makes gestures with his hands and reflects the emotion in his voice when he shares his experiences in this new stage of his life, in which the most important thing is no longer the result. Although that’s not why she won’t go looking for him on the track.

“These are the first games with Lina and the priorities are different. I love it, I live it differently. I am a little far from the stadium and from here, where all the athletes are (NdR: she is not staying in the Villa, so as not to have to leave the baby). But calm down and enjoy my family, which is what is good for me. Being with them gives me peace, they are like my place of concentration. The truth is that we have been enjoying the entire process together with my daughter. But I’m still focused and aiming for this Sunday morning“explains who will compete in the classification of the 3,000 meters with obstacles that day at 10:05 (05:05 in Argentina).

The woman from Mar del Plata is a rare case. In October 2022, she won gold at the South American Games in Asunción, three months pregnant.. He walked away after the competition, but continued training. At the beginning of November last year, Five and a half months after giving birth, she won gold at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. And now she will run again in an Olympic event.

“I understand that it is not normal. Many circumstances had to occur for me to achieve the Pan American Games. And here we are, with Lina, one year and two months old, classified for the Games. And let’s see the weekend…”, he acknowledges. “It’s difficult. As she grows, she becomes more complicated, but I adapt. Maybe I train less, but harder. And also prioritizing rest and listening to the body, because there are times when, yes, I am physically exhausted and I don’t have the time to do a strong workout and expose my body to injury.”

-Do you see yourself as an example for other athletes who also dream of being mothers?

-Yes, but I also understand that there are many future mothers who are afraid. And they are right. I too, when I decided to be a mother, was hesitant. Because one has that ambition to say, next year there is the World Cup, the other the Olympic Games and the other there is a South American and a Pan American. You want to continue competing and you are postponing motherhood. And there is also not knowing: do I come back or not? I also don’t want to see me and say well, you’re going to be a mother, you’re going to lose weight, you’re going to be fine… Because not all bodies or pregnancies are the same and not everything works the same. The example I can give is that I came back. But it doesn’t mean that other mothers can return. Just because I trained until the day before giving birth to Lina (literally, she did), doesn’t mean another athlete can do it. Or maybe they can even come back better than me. Or before. But for a high-performance athlete, who has done this all her life and trains every day, of course she is afraid of starting a family.

-You found your best version as an athlete after becoming a mother. Because?

-By the head. I am calmer and take things more calmly. Maybe before she made me very nervous, very anxious and she plotted me a lot with the race. Today I am calm.

-How important was the conviction that you could make it to these Games to be here?

-My goal was to qualify. I was cutting nails until the last minute to enter by ranking, because although I was ready to make the minimum mark of 9m23, there are many things that I have to accommodate now for a competition trip, we planned poorly and it didn’t happen; We are learning that too. But if I didn’t get in, I was going to continue training. I was going to take it easy, I wasn’t going to get frustrated or break down. Now I am a pillar for my fat woman and I cannot even allow myself a moment of pressure, of depression. I can’t allow it because I also have to be an example of not giving up on her, even though she still doesn’t understand anything.

-It is a very different attitude than the one you had in Rio or Tokyo…

-Totally different than the one I would have had before. Lina changed me completely.

-I heard you several times saying that high performance is not health. Why go back and continue in this?

-Because it is an addiction. Especially the competition. That’s why it’s also very difficult to retire. It is not health in the sense that you push your body to the limit and an injury and then the post that is living with that injury. Now that I’m with Lina, if I get injured, nothing happens, I enjoy it because I’m with her, I look for a way around it in other things. But the person who only dedicates himself to sports. What does she do? She just competes and dedicates herself to this. So if she gets injured, how can she not have depression? That’s the issue.

-With this new way of experiencing the competition, did you set a high goal for Paris?

-I came to qualify for the final and to set a South American record. Very tall, very demanding. Afterwards, it happens or it doesn’t… Beyond the result, I’m going to leave everything and enjoy the Olympic Games. Because for us, who run and do a throwing sport, it has to be the day, the time, how I woke up today, the race has to happen… The shot rings out and that’s where our body, our head, our Our legs, our feet, our heart have to work. Everything has to be well organized for that shot.

-What is the secret to channeling all the work you do during the Olympic cycle into those nine minutes and seconds that your competition lasts?

-Attitude. You have to have attitude. Say what you want to achieve, focus on moving forward, externalize it… The opinion of people outside doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be influenced by celebrities either. haters, negative comments. It’s you, you’re enjoying it. Your family is enjoying it and it’s time. You have to give it your all, whether the result is given or not, it can go well or badly for you. You have to enjoy it. The Olympic Games happen once every four years. And if you didn’t have a good day, it doesn’t matter. We have to continue training and it will be in the next ones.

-Will there be next Games for Bethlehem? Are you going to aim for Los Angeles?

-Obvious. I keep aiming. Then, whether it happens or not, we will see. I am going to continue doing it as long as my body gives me and as long as I continue to enjoy it. Because when you no longer enjoy it, you have to step back and take a break. It happened to me. Since Tokyo, I wasn’t having a good time and I took a step back and came back, but with the goal of enjoying myself. And to this day I am doing it.