He fell to his knees with his hands raised to heaven. Beads of sweat ran over his face and tears whe he cross the finish line in London 2012; he shook an entire Country. That is the time that Erick Barrondo immortalized in trhe history of the Guatemalan Sport.

"It's a story that needs to repeat," says the athlete. "I think people only remember the medal, seen in Érick someone who had nothing and believed in him, fought and reached where no one had come" he says with conviction and with a tone of nostalgia in his voice.

The athlete of San Cristobal Verapaz, Alta Verapaz, who grew up without shoes and that "sometimes did not eat", is on the verge of their second Olympic Games, after years of hard work and having proven to the world that "yes It can".

Érick Barnabé had an "atypical" childhood for urban areas. He grew up working and had "two-time meal a day"; sometimes they were tortillas with chili and other, tortillas with butter. "To some extent it was a sad childhood because sometimes I wondered why we had touched us to be poor if we had not done anything wrong" recalls the silver medal in the 30th edition of the Olympic Games.

Barrondo took the critical economic situation living with his famiily, as "divine punishment", until one day his father told him: "Being poor does not mean not having money, being poor you decide, because maybe your wealth will be the talent you have. "

Érick's first job was with his father in the neighboring farms. Planted tomatoes, cleaned the fields, tending animals, and carrying corn. "Despite winning my dad taught me very little to give 10 percent for household expenses," he says.

The walker of the village says his learned discipline from his father, and from his mother the perseverance. "She was very worried about me and my brothers. She taught us to ask God and fight for life. Of the two I learned a lot. My dad taught me and my brothers to do job, make the bed and make tortillas" he says.

All those moments that seemed almost beyond endurance tests were in just a memory and teaching Barrondo. His life changed when he entered the race walking after leaving his studies and expert counter a new adventure in the capital.

The Cuban coach, Rigoberto Medina, saw something special in him and work together came the first great joy in 2011, with the gold medal at the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011, in the race of 20 kilometers.

The name of the athlete who was born in the village Chiyuc began touring the Country. Many wondered who was the young man who was echoing the name of Guatemala internationally.

At the next stop of the Olympic cycle, in the London Games, was the peak of his career and national sports moment. Barrondo demolished any wall and reached the first Olympic medal for Guatemala. Since then, nothing was the same.

"They changed many things in my life. my private life was finished. I no longer spend time with my family. I had to become more serious, although I've always been formal, but now more. Many people now come to see what they hunt. I was 21 when I won the medal and I had to make tough decisions and made many mistakes. I learned that things are not eternal" says the athlete.

The national hero, who worked to build a new life, was named champion of the national delegation that will compete in Rio de Janeiro. The scenario is different, as the circumstances. What does not change is the goal of a warrior who dreams of returning to have a historic day; to make you smile again an entire country.

"The times I've lost is when people have shown me that it is with me. Thanks to them I got up. We know that in Rio anyone can be first or fifth anyone can be and I will fight for that. People deserve commitments because while we travel by plane, there barefoot children in Guatemala and eating tortillas with salt; me touched me. For them, fight for a medal" he says.