We literally see things differently; I mean architecture and all that stuff.
Nyjah Huston, skateboarder
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Black, Latin, Spanish and Scandinavian skateboarders mix in Plaza dels Àngels, at the doors of Macba, and I ask Iván Terol (47), Daniela's father:
–In this world, is your daughter popular?
Iván Terol shrugs his shoulders, I suspect that the question has caught him by surprise.
Tells me:
-Well I do not know.
(The man is not only the father of Daniela and her little sister, Ivet – from September 15 to 17, Ivet participates in the traditional Extreme Barcelona, at the Parc del Fòrum –; he is also their coach, mentor and , until a while ago, the driver, the physical trainer, the nutritionist, the psychologist...).
Iván Terol attends to me while Daniela (14) tries tricks for Llibert Teixidó's camera.
The girl goes from here to there, avoids obstacles, slides over impossible surfaces, weaves through the chaos of blacks, Latinos, Spaniards and Scandinavians, sometimes she hits her bones on the asphalt, those things happen when you get on the board.
In the end, Llibert Teixidó has the image.
He has captured the movement, the dynamism, the light, the color, all those things that only professional photographers see, and then he returns the girl to me, we go there with the interview, I start the approach questions, we have to create an atmosphere, We have to break the ice, and immediately an Argentine skater appears, approaches us, touches Daniela Terol's shoulder, interrupts us, asks her:
Are you Daniela?
–Yesss –answers, timidly, Daniela Terol.
–Great! I saw you skate a lot of times.
And Daniela Terol appreciates the gesture, and the Argentine leaves where he came, goes to try more tricks, and the father, Iván, shrugs his shoulders again.
And he told me:
–Well, look, my daughter is well known!
And it is.
(...)
When Daniela Terol was five years old, her father had taken her skating on a wooden rink in Masnou. When she was six, her father built her a board that the girl lost shortly after.
–What a bad time I had! –she tells me.
When she was ten years old, Daniela Terol was proclaimed European champion.
–He beat the twenty-year-old girls, and the 25-year-olds!
He had done it in the Vans Park Series in Chelles, a stone's throw from Paris, in 2018. And that victory had given him access to even bigger events: the World Series in Salt Lake City, where the continental champions were invited. And from there, more World Cups (she has been eleventh in the world in 2023), and presences at events in China, in Los Angeles, in Malmö, in Montpellier, in Dubai...
(This weekend, Daniela Terol competes in Lausanne, opening of the pre-qualifying competitions for the Paris 2024 Games).
–All life on the table. Don't you have the feeling of missing something? –I ask Daniela Terol.
I don't have any feeling of that kind, really.
–And when you went to school and asked for permission to skip an exam because you had to travel, did they make it easy for you?
He twists the gesture.
(The school was in front of the house, in Torre Llobeta, in Nou Barris).
–When I skipped classes, the teachers didn't understand me. They thought I was going on vacation. They did not prevent me from traveling, but they did not understand it. And neither do colleagues, in general. When they met each other, they told me: 'Come on, skip training'. And I didn't pay attention to them. I couldn't do it nor did I want to do it. Maybe one day I wanted to go out for a walk, but in elite sport you have to make sacrifices.
-And now?
– Now, for a few weeks, I have been at the CAR in Sant Cugat. I study there, I train there, I don't stay the night but I feel more covered. Around me there are gymnasts, swimmers, water polo players... They are like me, with them I do understand myself.
