0:00:16.511,0:00:18.171
Well, good evening.

0:00:18.206,0:00:24.113
I'm a sportsman: I practiced swimming, [br]athletics, high jump,

0:00:24.148,0:00:26.994
I played basketball, [br]I play soccer with my friends --

0:00:27.029,0:00:29.052
used to play soccer with my friends --

0:00:29.087,0:00:30.446
And today I play rugby.

0:00:30.481,0:00:33.009
I've played rugby for a long time now.

0:00:33.044,0:00:34.843
You've noticed the crutch, surely.

0:00:34.878,0:00:36.816
And you've seen I walk with a kind of limp.

0:00:36.851,0:00:37.721
But don't be mistaken.

0:00:37.756,0:00:39.685
I'm not injured.

0:00:39.720,0:00:44.953
It is a prosthetic limb that has helped me [br]walk since quite a while already.

0:00:44.988,0:00:48.357
I was born with a congenital malformation.

0:00:48.392,0:00:51.118
Congenital means it has nothing to do [br]with genetics,

0:00:51.153,0:00:53.243
that neither my dad is to blame,

0:00:53.278,0:00:58.451
nor did my mom smoke, drink alcohol [br]while she was pregnant.

0:00:58.486,0:01:03.348
Congenital is a medical term [br]for what is fortuitous.

0:01:03.383,0:01:05.037
It's nobody's fault.

0:01:05.072,0:01:09.053
My congenital malformation is expressed

0:01:09.088,0:01:12.457
in the size of my left femur

0:01:12.492,0:01:17.596
and the position on which my foot [br]came out of the factory.

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I have a normal femur,

0:01:19.764,0:01:24.120
and a left femur the size of a chicken's.

0:01:24.155,0:01:26.889
And my foot came out pointing backwards.

0:01:26.924,0:01:31.337
Well, I was born – obviously different – [br]and doctors turned up

0:01:31.372,0:01:33.748
telling my mom I wouldn't be able to walk,

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that I would be confined to a wheelchair [br]for the rest of my life.

0:01:36.786,0:01:39.027
And well, an endless bunch [br]of other Greek tragedies

0:01:39.062,0:01:43.952
that, of course, as first-time parents [br]they were, scared them quite a lot.

0:01:43.987,0:01:48.390
Luckily there came a doctor that told them [br]something pretty simple:

0:01:48.425,0:01:51.219
"The only one who will show you [br]what this boy can

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or cannot do is Nicolas" - me.

0:01:56.382,0:02:03.152
Luckily they followed this piece of advice [br]and decided to have their perfect family,

0:02:03.187,0:02:05.966
in some way, with their firstborn,

0:02:06.001,0:02:09.027
and carry on with it like anyone would.

0:02:09.062,0:02:12.645
Then, I learned, like we all learned,

0:02:12.680,0:02:15.585
like all of you also learned, [br]how to stand up when --

0:02:15.620,0:02:24.308
How do you say? - my senses, my instinct, [br]asked me to stand up.

0:02:24.365,0:02:28.236
I wanted to take my first step [br]when my instincts told me

0:02:28.665,0:02:29.970
I should take my first step.

0:02:30.340,0:02:31.957
In my case it was a hop.

0:02:31.992,0:02:35.844
Well, and rugby, why rugby?

0:02:35.879,0:02:37.571
My dad is a coach.

0:02:37.606,0:02:41.738
Then, since I was young [br]I used to go watch his practices.

0:02:41.773,0:02:45.623
I had contact with the players, [br]even since I was a child.

0:02:45.658,0:02:47.123
And I carried a normal life.

0:02:47.158,0:02:51.800
By normal, I mean, I walked with [br]a prosthesis from an early stage.

0:02:51.835,0:02:55.082
Since I was two, or one and a half, [br]when you start walking.

0:02:55.117,0:02:59.495
I rode a bike, like anyone does --[br]with a prosthesis.

0:02:59.530,0:03:03.247
And then came the moment to move on,

0:03:03.282,0:03:08.358
of undertaking common activities [br]with my friends, whom I know from school.

0:03:08.393,0:03:11.575
And at age six my life ceased to be normal.

0:03:11.610,0:03:13.201
Because instead of celebrating a birthday,

0:03:13.236,0:03:16.742
going to a soccer game and stuff, [br]with the birthday bag,

0:03:16.777,0:03:19.159
I had to be in the operating room because [br]they wanted to see the chances

0:03:19.194,0:03:20.926
of stretching my leg.

0:03:20.961,0:03:23.671
They had decided that, even though [br]they couldn't practice surgery on me

0:03:23.706,0:03:24.564
when I was born

0:03:24.599,0:03:27.388
as the bones were still [br]not properly formed,

0:03:27.423,0:03:29.433
they could do it at that age.

0:03:29.468,0:03:32.523
They opened, they looked, [br]and they were wrong.

0:03:32.558,0:03:36.557
My bones weren't developed enough [br]to be able to do it.

0:03:36.592,0:03:38.200
We had to wait another year.

0:03:38.235,0:03:41.997
So, with recovery and stuff, [br]we waited until the following year.

0:03:42.032,0:03:46.036
The following year they decided [br]it was possible, and they placed

0:03:46.071,0:03:51.730
an intramedullary rod on me [br]as the first phase of these operations:

0:03:51.765,0:03:54.021
joining the femur to the hip.

0:03:54.056,0:03:55.514
Obviously, the magic didn't happen.

0:03:55.549,0:03:57.770
The leg didn't miraculously grow.

0:03:57.805,0:04:00.678
And after eleven months of recovery

0:04:00.713,0:04:02.905
and a couple more years, [br]I was operated again.

0:04:02.940,0:04:03.546
¿What for?

0:04:03.581,0:04:05.064
To start turning my foot.

0:04:05.099,0:04:09.719
Then, they thought, turning the foot that --[br]remember it was grown this way --

0:04:09.754,0:04:14.032
would later get to be in this way, [br]and then grow the leg longer.

0:04:14.067,0:04:19.168
They could only reach here; bones can't be [br]that much stretched on a single operation.

0:04:19.204,0:04:22.452
And well, it's obviously [br]very frustrating to be 9

0:04:22.487,0:04:26.517
and not doing the normal things [br]the way I used to.

0:04:26.552,0:04:29.105
Things like athletics, [br]things like swimming,

0:04:29.140,0:04:32.021
things like playing a soccer match [br]with my friends.

0:04:32.056,0:04:36.514
For that time, my friends [br]were already playing rugby.

0:04:36.549,0:04:40.377
Rugby, which you already know [br]how much it means to me,

0:04:40.412,0:04:43.156
or you probably understand somehow...

0:04:43.191,0:04:48.161
And I wasn't being able to go [br]into the field with them.

0:04:48.196,0:04:50.247
One further frustration.

0:04:50.282,0:04:56.529
Well, not much time passed [br]before I got out of bed,

0:04:56.564,0:04:58.496
I left the wheelchair, [br]stopped using crutches

0:04:58.531,0:05:01.163
and could start wearing [br]the prosthesis again,

0:05:01.198,0:05:04.133
and I started trying to train [br]with my friends.

0:05:04.168,0:05:07.473
"No, no way" - kept telling me [br]the doctors and my parents.

0:05:07.508,0:05:08.374
"Why? For what reason?"

0:05:08.409,0:05:11.698
"You've just been operated. What if what [br]was done to you breaks down the operation,

0:05:11.733,0:05:16.028
which was so expensive, the time that [br]cost you to recover and all, and, moreover,

0:05:16.063,0:05:20.076
if you break your good leg, [br]then we are screwed!"

0:05:20.111,0:05:20.982
Which is true.

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But it was a risk I was willing to run.

0:05:23.282,0:05:24.415
But my parents weren't.

0:05:24.450,0:05:26.215
And my doctors, even less.

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So I had to opt for [br]the less decorous way out

0:05:31.745,0:05:36.128
which is "sneaking" out from home, [br]to say it some way, to go training.

0:05:36.163,0:05:37.233
"What a diligent boy!

0:05:37.268,0:05:40.424
With just one leg he has to sneak out [br]from home to go training."

0:05:40.459,0:05:44.316
Well, the excuse was: "I'm going [br]to study to one of my friend's,"

0:05:44.351,0:05:46.945
"I've got a birthday," "I'm going to study [br]to some other of my friend's home,"

0:05:46.980,0:05:48.575
"I'm going studying," "I'm going studying,"

0:05:48.610,0:05:49.982
"I'm going studying," "I'm going studying," [br]"I'm going studying."

0:05:50.017,0:05:52.057
You see, it's 30 classmates.

0:05:52.092,0:05:57.236
They repeated in many opportunities.

0:05:57.271,0:05:58.768
And I wasn't doing that well at school.

0:05:58.803,0:06:00.666
So there was something I was doing wrong.

0:06:00.701,0:06:04.341
Either I was studying like crap, [br]or I wasn't learning anything.

0:06:04.376,0:06:08.771
So, of course, my dad, neither slow nor lazy, realized

0:06:08.806,0:06:13.195
if I go away Tuesday and Thursday [br]and the guys train Tuesday and Thursday...

0:06:13.230,0:06:14.935
"This one's going training!"

0:06:14.970,0:06:16.950
Then came the issue of the matches.

0:06:16.985,0:06:19.244
Sure, every weekend [br]I was at one of my friend's place.

0:06:19.279,0:06:23.691
That's normal in a kid that is [br]13, 12, 15 years old.

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Even older too, that we stayed

0:06:25.832,0:06:27.704
for the weekend at our friend's.

0:06:27.739,0:06:29.124
So the matches weren't the problem.

0:06:29.159,0:06:31.146
The problem was training.

0:06:31.181,0:06:33.406
Until, finally, there came a trainer [br]that said to my old man:

0:06:33.441,0:06:34.491
"I will help Nicolas"

0:06:34.526,0:06:38.108
or "I want Nicolas to go into the field [br]because he really enjoys it."

0:06:38.143,0:06:42.649
And my old man, quite reluctantly, [br]ended up giving his thumbs up.

0:06:42.684,0:06:44.839
And then came my first official match.

0:06:44.874,0:06:45.828
The goal, let's say.

0:06:45.863,0:06:47.494
My summit.

0:06:47.529,0:06:48.510
And I went in.

0:06:48.545,0:06:50.608
Of course, with their words in my head,

0:06:50.643,0:06:57.261
with ankle support, shin pads, knee pads, [br]back brace, gloves, shoulder pads, helmet

0:06:57.296,0:06:59.389
and of course gum shield.

0:06:59.424,0:07:02.417
I was the Michelin dummy [br]entering like that and hopping.

0:07:02.452,0:07:05.357
Let's say I was crucified entering [br]a field.

0:07:05.392,0:07:07.250
As time went on, that fear --

0:07:07.285,0:07:09.804
which, of course, wasn't mine [br]but everybody else's --

0:07:09.839,0:07:17.441
was gradually left aside and I could, [br]or I can say, today I go in without anything.

0:07:17.476,0:07:19.141
Not even bandaging myself.

0:07:19.176,0:07:20.513
Because it's also better for me.

0:07:20.548,0:07:24.337
I can run, or hop, faster.

0:07:24.372,0:07:27.700
I had the chance to play rugby [br]in the snow, for example.

0:07:27.735,0:07:30.099
I was invited to play a match, [br]not a charity match,

0:07:30.134,0:07:34.448
but an exhibition, where [br]we could play rugby in the snow.

0:07:34.483,0:07:35.771
I enjoyed it a lot.

0:07:35.806,0:07:40.177
I went to Europe for a while and played [br]in a club in England.

0:07:40.212,0:07:43.466
Getting to the club [br]with school partners was something.

0:07:43.501,0:07:46.838
Arriving to a club where I wasn't known [br]was something completely different.

0:07:46.873,0:07:48.476
I come into the locker room.

0:07:48.511,0:07:50.875
"This is an Argentinean friend," [br]says my English friend

0:07:50.910,0:07:54.075
who I had met in a rugby trip [br]I had already done to South Africa,

0:07:54.110,0:07:56.807
I had gone to England, we went [br]to Uruguay, Chile, and so on...

0:07:56.842,0:07:58.320
all to play rugby.

0:07:58.355,0:08:01.243
"He is a friend from Argentina [br]who comes to play with us."

0:08:01.278,0:08:04.310
One at the back says: "Oh, he's playing [br]with crutches, ha, ha, ha."

0:08:04.310,0:08:06.011
"Yeah, I'm playing with crutches," I say.

0:08:06.046,0:08:08.502
Because there are situations [br]in which you can explain

0:08:08.537,0:08:10.211
all this I'm saying now,

0:08:10.246,0:08:11.515
and situations where you can't.

0:08:11.550,0:08:15.456
If I get into a taxi, for example, [br]and the driver says, "Oh, soccer, right?"

0:08:15.491,0:08:16.506
Well..."Yeah," what else could I say?

0:08:16.541,0:08:19.962
"Nah, thing is I was born with a congenital [br]malformation, the femur, the chicken..."

0:08:19.997,0:08:24.678
No! So I said, "Yeah, yeah, [br]I will go in with a crutch."

0:08:24.713,0:08:27.128
Well. I go into the field, I start training

0:08:27.163,0:08:29.746
and the guys realized [br]I was just another guy.

0:08:29.781,0:08:31.142
Just that, instead of running, I hopped.

0:08:31.177,0:08:31.941
That was the only difference.

0:08:31.976,0:08:32.953
Because my hands, I got them both.

0:08:32.988,0:08:35.022
And rugby is played with the hands.

0:08:35.057,0:08:37.523
So I had the chance to do that.

0:08:37.558,0:08:38.700
I had the chance to play in the snow.

0:08:38.735,0:08:39.812
I had the chance to play in the Netherlands,

0:08:39.847,0:08:43.554
a place where rugby is, like here, [br]an international championship

0:08:43.590,0:08:45.949
with backgammon world cup.

0:08:45.984,0:08:50.929
And the truth is, I really enjoyed [br]those kind of situations.

0:08:50.964,0:08:53.943
I went to the world cup in France, [br]where I had the possibility to work.

0:08:53.978,0:08:57.644
In the next world cup in New Zealand [br]I will be participating.

0:08:57.679,0:08:59.158
And I was awarded with a prize.

0:08:59.193,0:09:01.301
The Spirit of Rugby, they called it.

0:09:01.336,0:09:04.526
Rugby's FIFA, which is the IRB, [br]gives me this award.

0:09:04.561,0:09:11.093
The Spirit of Rugby, and of course, [br]it produced quite a commotion

0:09:11.128,0:09:13.794
in our small world of rugby.

0:09:13.829,0:09:17.221
And when I came back to Argentina [br]a few years later,

0:09:17.256,0:09:20.105
the Buenos Aires Rugby Union

0:09:20.140,0:09:22.261
bestows me with a honorary cap.

0:09:22.296,0:09:28.711
A "cap" is a small hat given to certain [br]players for representing something.

0:09:28.746,0:09:31.125
I was representing Buenos Aires' [br]rugby spirit.

0:09:31.160,0:09:34.320
Same rugby they didn't let me take part [br]a few years before.

0:09:34.355,0:09:35.310
Not them, right?

0:09:35.345,0:09:42.425
But the truth is the path I walked [br]with this, I couldn't have imagined.

0:09:42.460,0:09:46.294
My only goal was to go into a rugby field.

0:09:46.329,0:09:50.144
It was going in with 14 other friends [br]to defend my club's shirt,

0:09:50.179,0:09:54.571
my school's too, and a lot of things [br]came along.

0:09:54.606,0:09:58.626
All just for a stubborn cripple [br]who wanted to play rugby.

0:09:58.661,0:10:02.323
So well, then what I can say to you --

0:10:02.358,0:10:06.757
and I wouldn't want to be [br]a fortune cookie or a candy with phrases,

0:10:06.792,0:10:10.980
is that life is just 10 percent [br]what happens to you,

0:10:11.015,0:10:14.827
and 90 percent what you do with it.

0:10:14.862,0:10:20.509
So, don't let anybody tell you [br]that you can't do

0:10:20.918,0:10:22.796
something you want to do.

0:10:23.035,0:10:24.888
If you really want to do it,

0:10:24.966,0:10:29.207
and are willing to give everything [br]to achieve it, you will make it.

0:10:29.242,0:10:30.700
You will be able to make it.

0:10:30.735,0:10:32.177
That's it.

0:10:32.212,0:10:54.286
(Applause)

0:10:54.321,0:10:59.701
Matias Martin: Anyway, he summed it up [br]because this is 12 minutes

0:10:59.736,0:11:02.334
and some of the atrocities he told me once [br]he came to the radio

0:11:02.369,0:11:06.288
weren't told, like, for example, soccer [br]is not the only thing you tell taxi drivers.

0:11:06.323,0:11:09.501
Nicolas Pueta: Well, no, sometimes you [br]have to make up more elaborated excuses --

0:11:09.536,0:11:10.251
MM: For example?

0:11:10.286,0:11:13.254
NP: Not only to taxi drivers. [br]In a nightclub, e.g., you are dancing.

0:11:13.289,0:11:14.501
You dance a little different.

0:11:14.536,0:11:16.752
"Oh, what happened to you?"

0:11:16.787,0:11:19.020
So there you pull out your guitar...

0:11:19.055,0:11:20.644
Of course...

0:11:20.679,0:11:24.284
"Well, what happens is I'm a surfer, [br]so we were in South Africa,

0:11:24.319,0:11:28.551
in Durban, a gorgeous city [br]but with a very dangerous sea,

0:11:28.586,0:11:31.653
and a shark came by and ate my leg."

0:11:31.688,0:11:32.602
"Come on!"

0:11:32.637,0:11:35.792
"I swear to god, a shark ate my leg!"

0:11:35.827,0:11:37.337
"Come on!"

0:11:37.372,0:11:40.468
"Alright, don't believe me, I 'll keep [br]dancing. Anyway, it's the same for me

0:11:40.503,0:11:43.333
whether this happened or something else, [br]it's the same."

0:11:43.368,0:11:46.034
"Did a shark really eat your leg?," [br]and they start asking around.

0:11:46.069,0:11:48.540
And by now my friends say yes to anything [br]because they know that can happen,

0:11:48.575,0:11:51.562
or that I got run over [br]by a train or a car,

0:11:51.597,0:11:56.268
or that I had a motor biking accident [br]and other laughable situations.

0:11:56.303,0:11:58.378
MM: Alright Nico, thank you very much. [br]Nico Pueta.

0:11:58.413,0:11:59.468
NP: Thank all of you.

0:11:59.503,0:12:00.081
MM: Thank you.

0:12:00.626,0:12:03.753
(Applause)