Beijing (dpa) - Maria Belen Dutto fulfilled on Wednesday her dream
of competing at the Olympic Games. However, the Argentine could not
hear the shouts of the crowd gathered at the BMX circuit, and she
will not be able to hear her national anthem if she wins a medal on
Thursday.
Dutto is 98 per cent deaf, but she represents Argentina alongside
Maria Gabriela Diaz in one of the newcomer sports of the Beijing
Olympics.
BMX is a young, spectacular cycling discipline. Protected with
helmets and knee and elbow pads, eight cyclists race
frantically through a dirt circuit, complete with bumps and jumps,
in around 35-45 seconds.
Dutto put on a modest performance Wednesday, with a time of 40.193
seconds that left her 14th of 16 participants in the preliminary
round.
On Thursday she will be in a different semifinal from Diaz.
Indeed, Dutto was inspired to choose BMX after she saw Diaz compete
in both women's native town, Alta Gracia, in the province of Cordoba.
Diaz, 27, the winner of three world championship titles, was fifth
Wednesday with 37.590 seconds and remains Argentina's great hope for
a BMX medal.
Things will be harder for Dutto. As usual, she will not be able to
hear the sound that announces that the race is about to start.
Her parents heard from a doctor some 19 years ago that Maria Belen
was deaf, but neither of them gave up on their child. Dutto got her
primary and secondary education in regular schools, alongside
children who were not hearing-impaired. Now, at 21, she is one
Argentina's 137-strong team in Beijing.
It is usually her father who accompanies Dutto when she competes,
but this time it is her mother who has travelled to Beijing.
"But there is so much help around that everything is easier for
her," the head of the Argentine cycling team, Gabriel Curuchet, said
of conditions in Beijing.
Indeed, Dutto had no trouble surviving without the help of her
father who usually gives her the signal to start at the beginning of
races.
A beep usually tells riders that the barrier before their front
wheel is about to drop. Since Dutto cannot hear the beep, her father
taps her back to let her know, as he did to some controversy in the
Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro last year.
"At the Olympics no external help is allowed. But technology is
more advanced. There is a traffic light signal that allows her to
know what is happening," Curuchet said. "And she is happy with that."
Copyright 2008 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH