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Great football name Higuita shines on through cycling star

Earlier today I settled down to a highlights package of major sports events which took place the previous day and I saw an interesting headline at the bottom of the screen: "Higuita claims Stage 5 in the Basque tour." Tour of the Basque Country is a major cycling event taking place right now, in the northern Spain region in the name of the contest. I'm not a cycling enthuiast even though I admire the athleticism of the cyclists making a career out of this sport. So what hooked me about Sergio Higuita, a name previously unknown to me, winning a stage in the Basque tour, is his last name.
Before today, the only Higuita I knew about is the former Colombia goalkeeper René Higuita - or José René Higuita Zapata to go the full hog. He was not just a keeper in the conventional sense but a lot more - more on the crazy, hence the nickname El Loco. Higuita was not mad in a true sense of the word but kept the world of football and his Colombian national team on tenterhooks with over-the-tops antics he added in his goalkeeping duties. Yes, he was goalkeeper but Higuita saw himself as someone with a lot more to offer to the game, much to the chagrin of purists but fans of the game loved him. From long flowing curly hair and naughty grin, and forward dives to block shots with his heels from his bended knees midair, El Loco was nothing like the world has seen of a football goalkeeper. The daring save described above was dubbed the Scorpion Kick, and I don't know of any goalkeeper daring enough to try it. Added to that, Higuita was known for runs far out of the keeper zone, initiating attacks for his team as he dribbled past bemused players of the opposing teams. That earned him another moniker of "goalkeeper sweeper". The world has moved on from the days of Higuita as a footballer but the man today, aged 56, continues with his goalkeeping business, this time as the goalkeeper coach at Atlético Nacional. The club, based in his hometown of Medellin, it's where he spent his longest stint in his long career that saw him turn out for 10 other clubs including Real Valladolid in Spain. Higuita also had villainous episodes in his playing days, one being being arrested for playing a role in a kidnapping case. In 1993, Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar kidnapped the daughter of rival drug trader Carlos Molina. Higuita delivered the ransom on behalf of Molina and his daughter was released, while Higuita received $64,000 for his services. However, profiting from kidnapping is a criminal offence in Colombia. After seven months in police custody, Higuita was released without charge, based on what was believed to be the investigators' satisfaction that Higuita was not motivated by profit but quest to use his popularity to settle the matter for the sake of his hometown. "I'm a footballer, I didn't know anything about kidnapping laws," he once famously quipped when asked about the matter. At the time Medellin was under a rule of fear by Escobar and rival druglords in the international cocaine trade. Because of the jail stint, Higuita was not fit to play in 1994 World Cup in the USA so Colombia went without him. The tournament led to one of the most scandalous incidents in football when defender Andres Escobar was killed on the orders of drug kingpins for scoring the own goal that led to eventual elimination of Colombia as they lost 2-1 to US in Group A match on 23 June 1994. Andres Escobar was shot dead while sitting in his car outside a night club in Medellin on 2 July 1994. Life in Colombian second city has been good these past 10 years and the progress of Sergio Higuita in the Tour of the Basque Country is without a doubt helping to restore honour to Medellin. After Stage 5 victory, 25-year-old Higuita rose to 6th spot on the race standings. Good luck to him, in the name of legendary namesake and homeboy René Higuita. Meanwhile, Sergio Higuita has since finished the Tour of the Basque Country at position 6, with his team BORA-Hansgrohe of Germany finishing fourth overall. The tour was won by 2022 Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.

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