RODRIGUEZ PULIDO Veronica

Classification
PR3 (worldrowing.com, 03 Jun 2021)

Type of Impairment
Cerebral Palsy (tokio2020.dxtadaptado.com, 25 Jul 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (tokio2020.dxtadaptado.com, 25 Jul 2021)

Impairment Details
She was born with cerebral palsy that limited the mobility of the right side of her body. (tokio2020.dxtadaptado.com, 25 Jul 2021)

General
SURPRISING QUALIFICATION
She is part of the Spanish boat that qualified for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo after finishing third in the PR3Mix4+ at the 2021 Paralympic qualification event in Gavirate, Italy. The Spanish crew had met a few months before with the aim of establishing a competitive boat for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, so she says the qualification took everybody by surprise. "A professional rower takes 10 years to reach the elite, Our achievement has been a record, like in a movie. And, on top of that, we only trained on rare occasions together because we had just started. This team was formed with the idea of performing at a good level in Paris 2024, but the Tokyo option was presented to us and we had to try it. When we got to Italy, we knew it was almost impossible due to the experience of our rivals, but we had nothing to lose and we topped the repechage. We passed the Germans at 1,000 metres and that gave us the wings to give it our all and we ended up beating the Dutch at the last moment." (dxtadaptado.com, 30 Jul 2021)

TRIBUTE TO HER MOTHER
In 2017 she was the first woman to compete in the traditional chanalas race at the Soto del Barco Regatta in Spain. The following year, her mother Maige Pulido persuaded the competition's officials to let her and Veronica organise a women's race. Maige then died suddenly three weeks before the event and Veronica named the women's race 'My Princess', after what her mother called her. She went on to compete in the 2019 race in a boat that her father had bought for her with the inscription, 'Do not dream your life, live your dream', her mother's motto, on it. "It was the hardest blow in my life. She was not only my mother, but a unique person, pure kindness, my greatest support." (tokio2020.dxtadaptado.com, 25 Jul 2021)

OCCUPATION
She has worked as an primary school teacher and as a lottery ticket seller for the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind [ONCE]. (Instagram profile, 15 Aug 2021, 09 Jul 2021)