In the world of football, there is always talk that Argentina has Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, Brazil has Pelé and currently Neymar, and thus some countries are proud of their figures, but there are sports in which only Colombia can be proud. because he has the best.

With five world titles and three Olympic medals, Mariana Pajón has explained that she is the queen of BMX. At the age of 30, the athlete from Antioquia He has decided to slightly lower his competitiveness on track to dedicate time to other projects, such as his own company.

Just as he grew up in the world of cyclocross by leaps and bounds, he did so with his Power Club gym location. It currently has seven establishments, of which five are in Medellin and two in Bogota. In the latter city, a brand new space is opened for those who wish to get their bodies and minds in shape.

“It’s not just a gym, we change lives through exercise, physical and mental well-being, but we are 360. Not only food, but also a transformation. also class on linewherever in the world we are there”, he said in a conversation with WEEK at the opening of its new headquarters.

After years of sporting activity, almost reaching the limit of her physical capacity, Mariana Pajón has decided to take the competition more quietly in order to dedicate more time to her personal life. That’s it, before the fear of many, explained that he hasn’t retired from the track, because it’s just taking a break.

“This year I want to dedicate a lot of time to myself, to my family as well, to my husband. The time I could never take for my sports career, now I have to lose weight. I dedicate time to this endeavor as well as to the personal part.”

Even though he had fulfilled the goals he had set over the years, he left room to analyze what was going on in his head because “the reality is that things are not so perfect.” “There will be many changes, ups and downs where You will not feel good and where you have to face problems, permanent. It is the mental part that makes the difference”, he said about the importance of mental health.

Despite the fact that he is one of the few “athletes who are happy when they postpone the Olympics” in Tokyo 2020, because it gave him time to recover from some injuries, 2021 is “one more year of a lot of effort” that is currently “It’s taking its toll.” .”

“My arrival in Tokyo was not easy at all, it was quite a complex challenge that was more emotionally exhausting than physically. It also gives me the tools to keep up with new challenges,” he added.

At the start of this season he continued to experience physical discomfort, but that did not prevent him from participating in events and even winning them: “I was injured, but I am still in competition; I just came back from Guayaquil, I won there, I ran this weekend in Ubaté, then I will go to Europe and I will run in the world cup”.

Early in 2022, Mariana was in Barcelona with the aim of visiting her husband Vincent Pelluard’s family. Taking advantage of their stay in the Catalan city, they decided to train didn’t know that they would start the year very worried because all their belongings were stolen from the car.

Prior to the robbery, “his calendar was very different” for the Colombian cyclist because “he had two weekends in a row in the United States, with three races every weekend.” But because “he didn’t have a (stolen) North American visa”, then they were forced to “cancel that race and race Guayaquil out.”

“Visas from England are also issued, so we are waiting for the process of getting those visas for the first World Cup this year,” he added.

“Very tenacious because of the story, maybe we don’t know, they told us to move the car three times, to three places, so we always see it. We took out our briefcases and backpacks so as not to leave them in the car and they told us: ‘Here they stole it, put it in the car’. When we returned there was no suitcase, it was from the bicycle, and among them were also the papers, which was the most tenacious of all because we had many consequences, but there we processed and worked it out,” he said of what happened on the day of the robbery.

While the robbery had a big impact, since he’s in Europe and published everything on social networks, this isn’t the first time “other people’s friends” have done their thing in an athlete’s life. “I’ve had my bike stolen and so on, only this, through social networks, it’s easier to find out. But yes, some things have been stolen from me.”

Before heading to the Old Continent, Mariana Pajón will take part in several events this weekend, where she will compete and spend time with her followers. The middle of this month will see a new confrontation at the Santiago Bernabéu between Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​the same date chosen by the organizers of the El Clásico Bike Challenge to bring together the two most watched sports in Colombia.

Nearly 500 cyclists and 500 football fans will gather on March 20 at Sabana de Bogotá to celebrate the unification of the two sports.

“I will take part in the national cycling race in Ubaté, from there I will go directly to the Clásico Bike Challenge, which is the first time this road cycling has been carried out together with football. We’re going to do a really cool photoshoot with really cool guests, and then we’re going to see that classic”, Mariana said of her schedule for this weekend.