Edu Marín - about his doping

Israel Maciá : Do you think that you could give an explanation or apologize for what you did?
Edu Marín: More than apologizing, I have to reflect on what I have done to the people who surround me; to David (Maciá, my trainer) because he got very upset with this, to my family, my mum and my dad for their support; to my brother, and especially to my girlfriend because she's always been by my side, during the good and the bad moments and supported me a lot. Nowadays, people is gossiping badly when there is silence, that's why I have decided to say this in public. It's also a sign of respect to my girlfriend, my trainer and my family.

I.M.: What have you learned as a person and as a climber from this experience?
E.M.: Problems make you to grow up and mature. The more you have, the less you realize what you have. In fact and in my case, I did not realize what climbing, the people around me, and my social environment meant until I stumbled. I did not know in what world I was in and now I realize that all that is worth much more than I thought before.
Concerning the competition, I'm quite interested in it, I've grown to become super motivated and I will wait till the sanction comes to an end, to think whether I take it up again or not. If so, I will return with David Maciá for training and I will do it really seriously and super motivated.

It is just that during the weekends that I wasn't climbing I went out to party but, when climbing I need a good sleep, fullt stomach and to be in a relaxed mental mood, if not I can't climb even a 6a. Luckily, I've had this problem only for a short while, and now I have already dealt with it.

I.M.: Now you are okay, aren't you?
E.M.: Now I'm all right, focused, with some monitoring by some psychologists. I want to overcome this and prove to people that they can believe in me like they used to. I want to prove that everybody can have a problem and overcome it with will and vision.

I.M.: What about the sponsors, how did they react?
E.M.: The truth is they have responded quite well, I did not expect them to do that. They have understood everything right, that we all are human and, to say the truth, their support has meant a lot to me because I have realized that although they represent enterprises and they mainly move for the money and their own interest, in the end, they are also people. Actually, my social environment has motivated me a lot to overcome this because I have felt an unconditional support from my trainer, my sponsors, my family and my friends... in this aspect everything has been very favourable.

I.M.: It is believed in some webpages that you pretended to keep it secret. Is that true?
E.M.: That is not true at all. First I had to solve my problems, organize my head, my environment and talk to my sponsors. Once that was organized, only then, could I go public. I wanted to say that we are all people, everybody can make errors and that I will prove that I am a sportsman and that if someone believed in me before, they are going to be able to do it again.

I.M.: What do you think about the rumours which say that the way you sent  it is 9a?
E.M.: I tried  with Ramón Julián a long time ago. The hardest move is to get the two-finger-pocket. Apart from that, it is the hardest route that I have ever fired off, and have in mind that I have done quite a few around this grade like some 9a's, and 8c+'s 2nd go. The truth is that I would never have expected a comment that stupid. The crux, the two-finger-pocket, just arrives after  of lock-offs and crimps and then the final 7a or 7a+ of a vertical wall. The crimpers I use are in the original line of  rambla. It took Ramón many tries to do it, I understand that but, people's level is going up, it is the climbing evolution. It took him four years, 22 tries for me and 12 for Chris Sharma. It will be better for him to accept the values of climbing and evolve as a climber... Everybody receives slaps... I sent it quicker than him and Sharma quicker than me and we have to accept it; it is not good to behave like some climbers that downgrade afterwards saying this hold is valid and this other one is not.  is the way Sharma, Bindhammer and me did it… he fell off from the two-finger-pocket during four years and once he was able to climb up from there he was so nervous that he just went straight up forgetting the two crimpers at the right side at just three fingers of distance... I think it cannot be counted like avoiding the pure original line. What pisses me off the most is the comment, that I never expected from  a climber like him. But it's okay, that's life.