0:00:16.501,0:00:18.168
Well, good evening.

0:00:18.209,0:00:24.127
I'm a sportsman: I practiced[br]swimming, athletics, high jump,

0:00:24.167,0:00:27.001
I played basketball,[br]I play soccer with my friends

0:00:27.042,0:00:29.084
- used to play soccer with my friends -

0:00:29.085,0:00:30.458
and today I play rugby.

0:00:30.501,0:00:34.875
I've played rugby for a long time now.[br]You've noticed the crutch, surely.

0:00:34.876,0:00:36.794
You've seen I walk[br]with a kind of limp.

0:00:36.834,0:00:39.668
But don't be mistaken. I'm not injured.

0:00:39.709,0:00:44.959
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.

0:01:05.083,0:01:09.083
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.

0:01:17.631,0:01:19.729
I have a normal femur,

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

0:01:24.167,0:01:26.918
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,

0:01:33.783,0:01:36.846
that I would be confined to a wheelchair[br]for the rest of my life.

0:01:36.876,0:01:39.251
Well, an endless bunch[br]of other Greek tragedies

0:01:39.394,0:01:43.952
that, of course, as first-time parents[br]they were, scared them quite a lot.

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Luckily there came a doctor that told them[br]something pretty simple:

0:01:48.417,0:01:51.209
"The only one who will show you[br]what this boy can

0:01:51.250,0:01:56.333
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,

0:02:03.167,0:02:09.001
in some way, with their firstborn,[br]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 --

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How do you say? - my senses,

0:02:19.484,0:02:24.308
my instinct, 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

0:02:28.665,0:02:30.005
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.

0:03:08.375,0:03:11.542
At age six, my life ceased to be normal.

0:03:11.626,0:03:15.751
Because instead of celebrating a birthday,[br]going to a soccer game and stuff,

0:03:15.792,0:03:17.834
I had to be in the operating room

0:03:17.959,0:03:20.918
because they wanted to see[br]the chances of stretching my leg.

0:03:20.959,0:03:22.460
They had decided, even though

0:03:22.501,0:03:25.002
they couldn't practice surgery[br]on me when I was born,

0:03:25.042,0:03:27.417
as the bones were still[br]not properly formed,

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

0:03:29.459,0:03:32.501
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.

0:03:54.056,0:03:55.731
Obviously, the magic didn't happen.

0:03:55.851,0:03:57.770
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.

0:04:05.083,0:04:09.709
Then, they thought, turning the foot[br]- remember it was grown this way -

0:04:09.751,0:04:14.043
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.

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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,

0:04:56.564,0:04:58.670
I left the wheelchair,[br]stopped using crutches

0:04:58.790,0:05:01.163
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.

0:05:04.167,0:05:07.166
"No, no way," - kept telling me[br]the doctors and my parents.

0:05:07.167,0:05:09.626
"Why? For what reason?"[br]"You've just been operated.

0:05:09.667,0:05:12.626
What if what was done to you[br]breaks down the operation,

0:05:12.667,0:05:16.543
which was so expensive, the time that cost[br]you to recover and all, and, moreover,

0:05:16.584,0:05:20.085
if you break your good leg,[br]then we are screwed!"

0:05:20.125,0:05:21.001
Which is true.

0:05:21.017,0:05:23.247
But it was a risk I was willing to run.

0:05:23.292,0:05:24.417
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."

0:05:40.459,0:05:44.333
Well, the excuse was, "I'm going[br]to study to one of my friend's,"

0:05:44.334,0:05:48.085
"I've got a birthday," "I'm going to study[br]to some other of my friend's home,"

0:05:48.125,0:05:50.208
"I'm going studying",[br]"I'm going studying,"

0:05:50.209,0:05:52.082
You see, it's 30 classmates.

0:05:52.083,0:05:56.959
They repeated in many opportunities.

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I wasn't doing that well at school.

0:05:58.803,0:06:00.765
So there was something I was doing wrong.

0:06:00.876,0:06:04.335
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[br]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.

0:06:16.985,0:06:19.521
Sure, every weekend[br]I was at one of my friend's place.

0:06:19.641,0:06:23.691
That's normal in a kid that is[br]13, 12, 15 years old.

0:06:23.726,0:06:25.797
Even older too, that we stayed

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

0:06:27.739,0:06:29.414
So the matches weren't the problem.

0:06:29.542,0:06:31.168
The problem was training.

0:06:31.209,0:06:32.459
Until, finally, there came

0:06:32.501,0:06:35.210
a trainer who said to my old man:[br]"I will help Nicolas,"

0:06:35.250,0:06:38.584
or "I want Nicolas to go into the field[br]because he really enjoys it."

0:06:38.584,0:06:42.626
And my old man, quite reluctantly,[br]ended up giving his thumbs up.

0:06:42.667,0:06:44.834
And then came my first official match.

0:06:44.874,0:06:45.831
The goal, let's say.

0:06:45.959,0:06:47.501
My summit.

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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 --

0:07:09.834,0:07:13.668
was gradually left aside and I could,

0:07:13.792,0:07:17.418
or I can say, today I go in[br]without anything.

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

0:07:19.176,0:07:20.708
Because it's also better for me.

0:07:20.828,0:07:24.337
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.

0:07:27.735,0:07:30.128
I was invited to play a match,[br]not a charity match,

0:07:30.248,0:07:34.448
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.

0:07:43.501,0:07:46.835
Arriving to a club where I wasn't known[br]was completely different.

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

0:07:48.501,0:07:51.127
"This is an Argentinean friend,"[br]says my English friend

0:07:51.167,0:07:54.250
who I had met in a rugby trip[br]I had already done to South Africa,

0:07:54.292,0:07:57.251
I had gone to England, we went[br]to Uruguay, Chile, and so on...

0:07:57.292,0:07:58.334
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."

0:08:01.292,0:08:04.001
One at the back says,[br]"He's playing with crutches, ha."

0:08:04.042,0:08:06.041
"Yeah, I'm playing with crutches," I say.

0:08:06.042,0:08:08.543
Because there are situations[br]in which you can explain

0:08:08.655,0:08:10.211
all this I'm saying now,

0:08:10.246,0:08:11.730
and situations where you can't.

0:08:11.834,0:08:15.460
If I get into a taxi, for example,[br]and the driver says, "Oh, soccer, right?"

0:08:15.501,0:08:17.002
"Yeah," what else could I say?

0:08:17.042,0:08:20.709
"Thing is I was born with a congenital[br]malformation, the femur, the chicken."

0:08:20.751,0:08:24.669
No! So I said, "Yeah, yeah,[br]I will go in with a crutch."

0:08:24.709,0:08:27.126
Well. I go into the[br]field, I start training

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

0:08:29.792,0:08:33.126
Just that instead of running, I hopped.[br]That was the only difference.

0:08:33.167,0:08:36.501
Because my hands, I got them both.[br]And rugby is played with the hands.

0:08:36.501,0:08:38.043
So I had the chance to do that.

0:08:38.082,0:08:40.875
I had the chance to play[br]in the snow, in the Netherlands,

0:08:40.876,0:08:43.918
a place where rugby is, like here,[br]an international championship

0:08:43.918,0:08:45.960
with backgammon world cup.

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

0:08:50.964,0:08:54.314
I went to the world cup in France,[br]where I had the possibility to work.

0:08:54.434,0:08:57.644
In the next world cup in New Zealand[br]I will be participating.

0:08:57.667,0:08:59.168
And I was awarded with a prize.

0:08:59.283,0:09:01.301
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?

0:09:35.334,0:09:38.668
But the truth is the path I walked

0:09:38.809,0:09:42.425
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.

0:10:32.209,0:10:34.292
(Applause)

0:10:54.334,0:10:59.709
Matias Martin: Anyway, he summed it up[br]because this is 12 minutes

0:10:59.751,0:11:01.876
and what he told me once[br]he came to the radio

0:11:01.918,0:11:05.917
weren't told, like, for example, soccer is[br]not the only thing you tell taxi drivers.

0:11:05.918,0:11:09.794
Nicolas Pueta: Well, no, sometimes you[br]have to make up more elaborated excuses --

0:11:09.834,0:11:10.876
MM: For example?

0:11:10.876,0:11:14.126
NP: Not only to taxi drivers.[br]In a nightclub, e.g., you are dancing.

0:11:14.167,0:11:16.959
You dance a little different.[br]"Oh, what happened to you?"

0:11:17.000,0:11:19.042
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!"

0:11:37.375,0:11:40.584
"Alright, don't believe me, I 'll keep[br]dancing; it's the same for me

0:11:40.584,0:11:43.251
whether this happened or something else,[br]it's the same."

0:11:43.375,0:11:46.458
"Did a shark really eat your leg?,"[br]and they start asking around.

0:11:46.459,0:11:49.876
By now my friends say yes to anything[br]because they know that can happen,

0:11:49.918,0:11:51.960
or that I got run over[br]by a train or a car,

0:11:52.000,0:11:55.918
or that I had a motor biking accident[br]and other laughable situations.

0:11:55.959,0:11:58.376
MM: Alright Nico, thank you very much.[br]Nico Pueta.

0:11:58.417,0:12:00.168
NP: Thank all of you.[br]MM: Thank you.

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