Vanina Oneto: “The lioness was the extra player who pushed, was and fought”
September 2000. 25 years ago this month passed a milestone that transcended and transcend decades. On September 29 something historical happened for Argentine hockey, but the road began much earlier.
The starting point would be the tour of New Zealand, where they coincided with the male selected. They were all together in the same house, and despite having many funny anecdotes, like that time the men disarmed the rooms, putting their clothes in threads that hung throughout the house, it was also a very hard preparation from the physical and the emotional. The selection by Cacho Vigil had played a series of friendlies against the premises, and lost each one, the last 5 to 0. “The win on the court was very hard and the subsequent sensation of ‘The Olympic Games begin in a week and we just lost like this’. They played hockey and us to something else “, Vanina Oneto commented.
One day, during the tour, the players returned to their bedrooms and found a bag, with a red rose and a card that according to Oneto said something like To use on a special day. Inside was the albiceleste shirt with the stamped lioness, on a side and leather. While they tested and went to the hall with the shirt on, then they kept it and did not take it out so far.
The former player of the Argentine National Team defined what was experienced in Sydney as a novel, with beginning, knot – where the conflict arises – and outcome, where in this case, the end was happy. The dream began with the 3 to 2 victory against South Korea, then 1 to 0 with Great Britain and losses with Australia and Spain. After the stumble, they went to the next phase, where they were with zero points and had to win all the games.
First it was the Netherlands, a rival to which they had never won in important competitions. It was there when the lioness came out. At that time the Argentine selected female hockey became the lionesses. The night before, Vanina grabbed a cough attack that did not let her sleep, and even the table president prior to the game believed she was not going to be able to play. “It was clearly a way to express my nerves or anxiety, because the game began and my cough ended,”he said. When Cachito gave the pre -match talk, he told them “Today is going to be a game for memory. They won’t want to leave the court”and so it was.
Then China played. “For me it was Sydney’s revelation. They had made a very big physical change, and my feeling was always that, despite avoiding a player, that same player happened to me and reached me, so he had to avoid the same 17 times, it was a lot. Historically he was a rival who physically dominated you,”Said Vanina. The Asian team does not have to play the same, but you had to penetrate its tactic and break it, to be able to capture and dominate the game. They began losing 1 to 0, but they knew that they only depended on them, and with goals from Luciana Aymar and Soledad García left the Chinese behind.
Finally, New Zealand. The rematch. The thorn of that 5 to 0 was latent. It was the ideal encounter, where everything they had raised came out, and can be seen in the result. With a 7 to 1, the lions classified to the final of the Olympic Games.
“Many years later, I listened to Nelly Giscafré to say that this lioness was like an extra player. It is not that mysticism was born because I think one brings it from the previous years, but that was when it was reflected. The feeling was wonderful, all of the hand, the tears fell … it was so strong emotionally that it felt as if a fire had been born and had gotten into the skin and in the heart. The body trembled. Oneto said. At that time something was born that transcended, and they could not even imagine the dimension he was going to have in the future, and currently has. The lioness was used at the right time, perhaps when they needed it more. Unconsciously his presence promoted them, but just because they were ready.
While they lost the final, they won much more than they thought. First, an Olympic medal, something that every athlete longs for his life. But more than that, they achieved a much stronger sense of belonging than they already had. At that time something was born that 25 years later is more alive than ever. “I think of the beautiful legacy that we had to be part. We always say that they touched us with the magical wand, which today is a novel that had the perfect condiments. Now they continue to write it, and the pages are always golden pages. Although it began with us, today it is still valid.”
Able with Monday’s diary it seems a story that despite having had ups and downs, it was quite perfect. But far from that. Beyond that they, together with the coaching staff, were the ones who created their own path, the sacrifice behind it was really giant. “We trained 11 and a half months of the 12 that has the year because we had to shrink the difference we had with the rest of the teams. The train passes once, and we were prepared to get on. The opportunities are, but we have to know how to take advantage of them.” 16 players had a dream, and they didn’t stop until they were. In the middle appeared the number 17 player that in addition to the necessary push that gave them, opened a door that will never close. An illusion that remains intact every time the lionesses go to the court, and showed that, although an animal stamped on a shirt drove them, they had it inside each one, and they only needed to feel that it was the right time.
