Lately I been happier than usual. That's because I'm making my first appearance in the Olympics in swimming at the age of 23. I been wating for this oppurtinity for years. Going in the Olympics was always my dream since day 1 of my career in swimming. I used to watch the summer Olympics every time it was aired on tv. Watching the Olympics when I was young helped me continue to pursue my dream even sometimes it wasn't enough. I'm Enrique Martinez, a 23 years old, a Spanish swimmer. I grew up in the beautiful city of Bercelona in Spain with my super supportive parents, my mom Melania and Stephano Martinez. They had me in their early twenty's. Even trough it wasn't the right moment to build a family they still had me. To be honest, my parents aren't the most rich people but they manage well. They wanted more children but my mom but struggled with infertility. Since I am an only child, everything I did and want was always accepted by my parents since they love me with all their hearts. When I was 7 years old my grandpa chosed me the Olympics and I became obsessed with it. I especially liked watching the swimming competions. That's where my passion from swimming came from. I started training in swimming like the olympians but was always met with a results that I couldn't do what they did on tv. Since my dream was to go in the Olympics I made everything I could to manage to acheive my dream. As the years went on, I got better but not the level I wanted to have. That frustrated me. I would cry some nights telling myself that I will never be an olympian. When I turned 14, some judges from a swimming competions said I was going to compete in their competion because they thought I was good enough to compete. I was so happy, I thought it was progress to making my dream come true. I represented Spain. We were 10 boys that are swimmers from different countries that were 14 years old like me competing in the competion. The United-States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, France, Australia, England, Italy and Spain were the countries each swimmer represented. I made the competition but I finished last in the competition. I was sad and ashamed of finishing last. Since that day, I got opportunities to go compete in competitions. I made all of the competitions even trough most of the time I finished one of the last in the competitions. I did all of the competitions because I wanted to go in the Olympics some day so it was crucial to me to learn how to compete like an olympian. The highest place I finished with was 5. Most of the time my parents said I was just unlucky because I definitely had good talent in their eyes. I never believed them. A couple years later, at 19 years old, I was told I could try and qualify in the Olympics by my coach. I did what he told me but I didn't qualify for the 2016 Johannesburg Olympics. The biggest reason they told me is because I always finished on of the last. I felt betrated, lost, angry and so many emotions that I can't explain all of them. I just lost the opportunity to acheive my dream which I worked so hard to make it happened. After not making the Olympics I fell in a deep depression. I stopped competing for a good 2 years. I went to therapy, tried to forget what happened but I coudn't. For the first few months my parents let me be. After 6 months they started telling me it wasn't my fault if I didn't qualify for the Olympics. They told me it was the problem of the judges to not see your real talent and passion. After a year of me not listening to them they told me to at least start swimming again. At that time, I wasn't ready to relive the moments of competing for swimming again jsut to become a failure. It took me two years to have the will to swim again. My parents were relieved I started doing what I love again. They helped me and supported me to compete again as well to try for the next Olympics. I wasn't sure I wanted to. I had gaving up my dream of going in the Olympics because it was clear I wasn't made for it but I later changed my mind. After training again for almost 2 years, I tried qualifying for the 2020 Washington Olympics. This time I made it. I coudn't believe that I qualified. It took me a couple of weeks to realised that I have acheived my lifelong dream of mine. That's why I'm more happy than usual. I'm currently saying my goodbyes to my family because it's time to leave for the Olympics. While I say my goodbyes, I think about how my first appearance in the Olympics is gonna turn out.