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My name is Enriqueta Corina Duarte and
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my mother’s last name is Ibarra Garcia.
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I’m a Piscis!
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I was born on February 26th, 1929.
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I feel at ease swimming.
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I feel better in the water than
on the ground.
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I’m the fifth Enriqueta in my family.
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My grandmother was Enriqueta Tucci
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and her mother was Enriqueta Rodriguez.
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My mother Enriqueta,
my daughters Enriqueta...
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It just so happened that
when I got married
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my mother-in-law’s only name was
Enriqueta! So…
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- And what’s the name of the man
who stole your heart?
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Well, Enrique!
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He was my greatest love,
my impossible love.
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ENRIQUETA
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I met Enrique on a ship.
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We were coming back from
the London Olympics
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with a group of twenty people,
we all became great friends.
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We spent the whole day together on deck
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and after dinner,
we went to concerts or dancing.
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Enrique and I were inseparable!
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I mean,
we spent seventeen days together there
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and we established
a lovely bond of understanding.
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The Olympic helped us to
become great friends.
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Since everybody saw us as a couple,
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they told me "Enrique is married."
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So as soon as I saw him I said:
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"Look,
I've been told that you're married."
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"No", he said. "I'm not married,
but I have a commitment."
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If he's got a commitment
it's because he's in a relationship
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a he's made promise.
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I was very serious and righteous.
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Yes, religious education
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since I was little, in second form.
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He had a commitment, so comply with it.
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So he says to me:
"Can't we still be friends?"
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I told him: "No way."
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"With what we have, we can't.”
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He was a P.E. teacher
at military school.
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He finished his lesson and ran off
to the telephone to call me at noon.
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I had already finished my lunch,
dressed to go to school,
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where I was a teacher in Barracas.
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He had a beautiful handwriting,
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beautiful letters that I threw away,
I threw them away…
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Enriqueta Duarte was the first
and only South American woman
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to swim across the English Channel.
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She accomplished this feat
together with Abertondo.
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In that event organized by
the London Daily Mail.
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When the competition opened,
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1500 applications arrived
from the world's swimmers.
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I got chosen.
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Eva Duarte de Peron sent me
to cross the English Channel.
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When I left for England,
Enrique wrote a letter to me!
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Can you imagine?
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He was aware of me, of all my things.
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I crossed the English Channel
on August 16th, 1951.
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It took me 13 hours 26 minutes
to swim across the English Channel.
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So, I held the Latin American record
for men and women.
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The next morning, at 8 o’clock
I went to the hair salon.
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The absolute worst that
a man could have,
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my husband had it.
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He was Abertondo’s coach or leader.
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I got engaged in March.
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We got married on October 30th
in a civil ceremony,
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and on November 12th in the Church,
in 1953.
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We went to Bariloche
for our wedding trip.
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But it wasn't a honeymoon.
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It was a bitter moon, bitter!
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We only shared
the pillow and the toothpaste.
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He wasn't a husband in my home,
nor a father.
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He was a pensioner!
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Every night at midnight, he came home
drunk after attending barbecues.
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And he didn't sleep in my bed!
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He tried to kill me.
He tried to strangle me.
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Since I'm a Catholic
I don't get divorced.
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I got married and
that bad thing happened to me.
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Well, I had to stick with it.
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I lived in Acassuso,
married with three children.
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Enrique was five blocks away
from my house,
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married with three children.
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We were voted to form
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the Argentine Olympics
Associates' commission.
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Enrique was the president and
I was the secretary.
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So we both had to sign the papers.
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The first Monday that
we had to work at the office,
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as we went down in the elevator,
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Enrique told me:
"Coca, do you need a ride?"
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I told him:
"No, Enrique, I've got my car."
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"Oh, okay."
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Next Monday, he told me:
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"Did you really have your car
last Monday?"
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Yes, Enrique, I did.
But not today."
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He asked: "Shall I drive you home?”
and I said: "Yes, Enrique."
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And he did.
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He drove with one hand,
and held mine with the other.
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Like this!
It was such a thing!
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And one time I told him:
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"Enrique, had we been together
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we would have owned the world."
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Because we both had
such strong personalities
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and we understood each other so well.
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I didn't fight for Enrique.
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Because I controlled myself.
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Maybe I could control my desires,
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and I did.
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March 2nd, 1963.
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I arrived in Neuquen
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and my dad told me:
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"Look Coca, everybody says that
you're not going to make it today."
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And I told him:
"Look dad, today I'm going to try it."
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It's been forty years,
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and many swimmers have tried
and couldn't make it.
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A mayor told me:
"Enriqueta,
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whatever is done in Bariloche,
in any sport,
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nothing will overcome what you did."
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Of course, such an unusual thing!
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Consequently, I organized
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the International
Nahuel Huapi Lake Crossing,
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in which you join
by swimming two provinces:
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Neuquen and Rio Negro.
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Swimming was good for me...
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physically...
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mentally...
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spiritually.
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To deal with people...
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To be an honorable person.
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To overcome...
overcome many challenges
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and to accomplish many things in life,
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concrete and spiritual.
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...God,
you take away the sins of the world
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have mercy, have mercy on us.
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Lamb of God,
you take away the sins of the world.
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have mercy, have mercy on us.
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Lamb of God,
you take away the sins of the world.
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Grant us peace, grant us peace.
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Behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world...
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To this day,
I remember Enrique's skin...
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and the beautiful back of his neck.
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Let me tell you this...
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In September, 1950, we went to
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some University Olympics in Tucuman.
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I had breakfast with Enrique
right in Tucuman's downtown.
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We finished breakfast and he told me:
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"Let's go to the cathedral!"
And we did!
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We leaned in the prie-dieu
where you commune.
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He held my hand.
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And there we were,
both of us knelt in the cathedral!
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Many years later, one day I told him:
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"Enrique, what did you ask for there?
What did you pray for?"
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He wouldn't tell me then.
"No, I don't remember, Coca. I don't."
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God knows, God knows what.
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- And what did you pray for, Coca?
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Well, I’ve must have prayed
for us to be together.