Francisca Crovetto has participated in multiple international competitions and has managed to leave Chile at the top through her performance in the Skeet Shot. In her last Pan American Games, Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019, the Chilean shooter managed to win a bronze and a silver medal, respectively.Santiago 2023 will be the fifth Games for the former Captain of Team Chile, which she is looking forward to, perhaps, getting the only medal she is missing: the gold one.
What are your sports expectations for Santiago 2023?
First, I want to enjoy my fifth Pan American Games. I am happy and expectant to be able to close this participation in my city and in my country. I know how well a mega sporting event does to a country and its citizens and I believe that we are going to be privileged to experience this. In sports, I want to enjoy the Games and get back on the podium. That is always my goal, to have a good competition, to be able to enter the final and to be able to secure a Pan American medal for Chile again.
Maybe a gold medal ...?
I really would love it, it's a medal that I still don't have. I have achieved silver and bronze, but I am missing the gold. But in a Pan American medal, the colors are decided by so little that as long as I am on that podium, I am happy with whatever metal it is.
What are your expectations of the event and what benefits could its realization bring?
I hope people vibrate with the event and make it their own. Although they will be held in Santiago, the Games will be for all Chileans. I hope they will go, support and consume all sports, because my perspective changed to see a sporting event on TV, like the Athens Games were, and it made me want to make sport my profession. For this reason, I hope that children can enjoy this, and I hope that what happened to me is repeated in one, two or hundreds of children in the country. My invitation is to live the experience, be there and enjoy it, to support the Chileans and do it with respect for rivals from other countries. For us athletes, having our people cheer us on can sometimes be an extra pressure, but it is still an experience that none of us will forget.
What should not be missing from the event?
It is important that we practice sports in a safe, respectful and inclusive environment. Sport is a tool for inclusion that we have as a society, we are going to host a Parapan American Games, where we can show people how the tool of sport works for people with disabilities. Santiago 2023 should be an atmosphere of party, joy and fun, since many times we forget that High Performance sports, which are highly demanding, are also fun. The most important thing is that everyone, from spectators to athletes, can have the ability to have fun.
What are your next challenges?
One of the big goals is the Tokyo Olympics, that they take place and that I can enjoy them. I come from the Rio 2016 Games, where I didn't enjoy them so much and I didn't have such a good time. This left me with a sour drink that I want to pass through with a super good experience in Tokyo. I want to have a good time from a personal experience, and in sports I want to make a good qualification to be able to be in an Olympic final, which would be a tremendous achievement.