Who would have imagined that one of the greatest world bodyboarding talents would be born in Rio Cuarto, Cordoba, Argentina, kilometers away from the nearest beach? Not many and certainly not in soccer-loving Argentina, where very few know that one of its citizens is the current World Bodyboard Champion. She is Natasha Sagardia and is 22-years-old. Her excellence in this category evidently was not made in Rio Cuarto. When Natasha was 9, her parents decided to move to the “Hawaii of the Atlantic”, the “Isla del Encanto”, Puerto Rico. Soon after her arrival, she was sliding in the waves of Sheraton Beach, San Juan. Her talent was evident and she rapidly stepped-up the local ladder, obtaining seven national titles; at regional level, crowned as 2006 Pan American Champion; and, finally, winning the gold medal during the 2008 ISA World Surfing Games in Costa de Caparica, Portugal in the past month of October. The amiable Puerto Rican-Argentinean athlete had already obtained the bronze medal in the 2006 World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, but the gold medal was near at hand. In Portugal, she made a perfect championship, winning almost all her heats and showing that this year she wasn’t going to let her chance get away. Her best performance came at the best time: the final heat. There she confronted the local Rita Pires, Australian Lilly Pollard and Frenchwoman Heloise Bourroux. Natasha made the best wave election, the best maneuvers and the best strategy. She led from the beginning to the end. When the double horn sounded, she cried while leaving the water, was carried by her team colleagues and continued crying until she stopped to say the following: “I can’t stop crying! I’m super excited. I don’t know if this is real! This is crazy, I was just thinking, please God let me get the right waves and surf like I know. This is a dream come true. I’ve been working so hard to be here, I can’t even believe it.” Later, she raised the flag of her homeland, and was emotional again when the Puerto Rican national anthem sounded, while she stood at the highest place of the podium. Her dream had finally come true. Natasha Sagardia is a role model as sportswoman and human being. She is not only excellent as a bodyboarder but also as a student. She will soon graduate with a Bachelor in Political Sciences. On the other hand, she also owns her own Bodyboard school, the Sagardia Bodyboarding School, where she encourages bodyboarding in her country. At only 22 years young, the blond athlete will surely continue to be regarded for years to come. About International Surfing Association |            |
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