Jose Carlos Baez Gonzalezknown as boywas born in February 1975 and since 1999 has worked as a local police officer in his native municipality, La Orotava. From a very young age he dived into the swimming pool of the San Isidro Salesian College, where he still trains, and began to stand out in the world of swimming, in which he has a large number of sporting successes at a regional, national and international level. He has never stopped swimming or competing, but since 2007 he has combined his two passions to become one of the most successful police officers in the World Police and Fire Gamesthe World Police & Fire Games (WPFG)where you have already won 40 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze medals. And he goes for more, since Chicho is training thoroughly to participate in their eighth consecutive games.
Báez is already registered to travel, next July, to the Dutch city of Rotterdamwhere he will have the opportunity to continue improving his impressive track record, which also includes seven world records in this competition, which should have been held in 2021, but was postponed for the Covid-19 pandemic. In this competition they usually gather around 20,000 athletesactive and retired, coming from all corners of the world.
Chicho Baez will compete in the Netherlands in the swimming and open water modality for the eighth consecutive time, after reaping successes in the WPFG of Adelaide (Australia), in 2007; British Columbia (Canada), in 2009; New York (United States), in 2011; Belfast (North Ireland), in 2013; Virginia (USA) in 2015; Los Angeles (USA), in 2017, and Chengdu (China), in 2019. In his last participation, in the Asian country, he won five golds in the 200, 400, 800, 1,500 free and 3,200 open water competitions. His spectacular career has led him to be nominated for a seat in the Hall of Fame (Hall of Fame) of the World Police and Fire Games, a place reserved for a few athletes. The Spanish Sports Association of Police and Firefighters has proposed Chicho so that he can receive this honor.
Agustin Artiles Grijalba, mushroomcoach of the national Olympic swimming team in the 2008-2012 cycle, is one of the most renowned Spanish coaches and, recently, posted on his website an article dedicated to Chicho Báez, whom he qualifies as “a unique athlete”. He explains that “in his beginnings he stood out in the backstroke events, at the age of 14 he was a bronze medalist in the Spanish age group championships in Madrid in 1989, and over time he became a long-distance runner and became the first swimmer in Tenerife in losing 16 minutes in the test of 1,500 in a short pool. And that thanks to his innumerable sporting achievements since then the name of La Orotava, Tenerife and the Canary Islands worldwide”.
Grijalba defines him as “an excellent person and a great competitor, with prodigious mental strength. A swimmer who has forged his history over the years, because no one has given him anything to reach the top and everything he has conquered is due to his determination, commitment and enthusiasm».
The one who was chosen as the best Spanish competition coach in 2005 spares no praise for Chicho Baez: «He has a huge sports record, typical of the best world athletes, in which countless medals and records in the Master category stand out, such as the best world record in 2014 in the 1,500 free in his category, and other specialties, but greatly his more than 56 medals (40 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze) in its fetish competition and in which it is the great benchmark: the World Police and Fire Games».
For mushroom Grijalba, «there are swimmers that when you see them compete you immediately realize that something could happen, that at any moment you will witness something important and you don’t want to miss it». In that group is Chicho, whom he considers “the pride of La Orotava”, a municipal agent who feels “lucky in this sport, with friends, health and big companies that count on me”. In his eighth games, Chicho will have the sponsorship of the Municipality of La Orotavathe Village Carpet Makers Association, The Salesians Pool, CSIF Canary Islands, The Graphic Cave and the real estate 21st Century Lighthouse. And it may happen that when this agent jumps into the water, the medal counter goes back up.
