The competition motivates him. Whatever the context: Brayan Carreño, originally from Cali, always strives for excellence. He is disciplined, has clear objectives, bordering on psycho-rigid, he admits. “Since I was little, I have liked to measure myself by results, it shows me what I can be capable of. At 25, he is the most successful Colombian figure skater in history. He has participated in every world championship since 2014 and has only left without a medal in two. He has six gold medals, two silver and four bronze. At the same time, he studied the fourth semester of medicine at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Cali, where he distinguished himself as one of the best students.
Passionate about sports, Carreño came to skating by chance, when he was invited to attend a practice. He had done Olympic swimming and gymnastics, but he had “fallen in love.” He was linked by his competitive instinct, but also by his other great passion: dance. By the age of five, he had entered a salsa academy in Cali and was part of the famous Delirio company. “That led me to figure skating: seeing how people floated and did what I did, but on wheels. »
In a few days, he put on “naked” skates that his first coach had lent him. I was eight years old. At 13, he participated in his first junior world championship, facing rivals five years his senior. “They passed me because they saw qualities in me,” he remembers. He finished sixth and began a winning career. The most recent: a double gold and bronze medal at this year’s World Cup in China, where he placed first in dance and figures, and third in quartet.
Carreño considers sport not only as a passion, but also as a tool for social transformation. He was born in the neighborhood of San Judas, commune 10, southeast of Cali, which emerged as an informal and self-built neighborhood, making it an area with a solid social fabric, also marked by violence and poverty. “Sport has always been an opportunity to pursue my dreams,” he says.
His family told him that excelling could open the doors to university for him, and that’s what he did. “I feel that I am an example of how sport is used to build society. My teammates and I have shown that the socio-economic place in which you are born does not matter when looking for what you want,” he emphasizes. This is why he also loves representing Colombia, his city and his neighborhood on the most important stages of figure skating. “Project that strength onto others and say, ‘Keep fighting,’” he says.
She frequently receives negative comments on social media because of her sexual orientation and gender identity: “Honestly, it doesn’t affect me, I know very well who I am. » He recognizes, however, that few men devote themselves to figure skating, largely because of prejudice. “People believe that if a child plays artistic sports they are conditioned to something and that if someone doesn’t think heteronormatively they are in the wrong place.” In his case, he always had the support of his family and those around him. “I’m gay and I’ve never had any problems skating, at university or at home,” he says.
Criticizes the lack of institutional support. He says the state gives priority to Olympic sports and that is why, in other disciplines in which Colombia is a world power, “the support is not there.” He criticizes them for not even having their own space to train: “We have to go to the velodrome and they constantly take us out of there. We are always on edge,” he adds. The lack of resources is such that Carreño, being the most decorated Colombian figure skater in history, wonders year after year if it is worth continuing. “Many cannot even emerge and we lack generational replacement,” he warns.
His diet is strict. He trains daily, combining sport and studies “as best he can”. As a child, he had to give up dancing to devote himself fully to skating, but he never lost his taste for it. This is why he never misses any opportunity, rare and only at the end of the seasons, to go out and party with his friends. “I’m one of those people who when I go out, I don’t sit still, I like to dance to everything.”
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