For Donovan Carrillo, his journey to the Olympics has been nothing if not winding.
Born in football-mad Mexico, figure skating wasn’t the go-to sport for kids. But even in the face of opposition, Carrillo chose to stick it out.
“As a kid, I got bullied in school for practicing figure skating because other kids say that this was a sport just for girls,” the 22-year-old explained after finishing 22nd in the men’s free skating program on Thursday.
“Because we don’t have many boys practicing or competing; now, we have one. But before, it was something very unusual. But I always knew I liked it, so I decided to not listen to them and focus on my skating.”
As a 13-year-old, Carrillo chose to leave his family in Guadalajara because the rink closed.
Living in León, the only available place Carrillo train could was the local ice rink, and the venue wasn’t shut off to regular patrons while he took to the ice. He had to practice his toeloops and jumps while others skated around him.
At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, Carrillo became the first Mexican male figure skating Olympian since Albertville 1992, when Riccardo Olavarrieta took to the ice in the short program.
But after entering the rink at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Thursday, Carrillo says competing at the Winter Olympics for Mexico is a “dream.”
“Everything began with a dream. When we are kids, we always watch the Olympics on TV. As I was a lover of sports, I always wanted to represent my country in one of (the) Olympics. I made it with figure skating. So for me, the Olympics, it’s just a proof that dreams come true.”
Carrillo continued: “Representing my country in the Winter Olympics with the best athletes all over the world in figure skating is something really inspiring for me and I think, not just for me, but for my whole country.
“Now, after my performance in the short program, I received a lot of messages from them to tell me they were super proud of me. I’m just grateful for that and also motivated to do my best and keep fighting for more dreams, more goals.
“I hope my performance here in Beijing can inspire more kids and (the) young to develop and practice winter sports. In my country, we don’t have ski, we don’t have snowboard. But, at least, we have figure skating and hockey, so I would like to invite them to try because maybe they can find their passion and also their self, just like I did with figure skating.”
