“Of my legacy, the values ​​that I have transmitted are more important to me than the medals”

A few days have passed since his farewell act. How did he live it?

It was a very beautiful act, just as I had imagined. I wanted it to be a party to celebrate everything that I have lived thanks to sport. Many people can’t choose when they retire and are forced to quit. I was lucky to be able to choose it and be happy with the decision. For me it was a day in which I wanted to thank all the people who have made me grow as an athlete and as a woman.

How did you make the decision to retire?

In my case it was all very natural and organic. After going to Tokyo, I got pregnant and after going through the whole pregnancy and going back to training I saw that it didn’t make me so happy to be in the water all day and it didn’t motivate me as much. When you seek excellence, either you do it a thousand times or it’s not worth it. Physically, I could have continued, but I no longer had such desire and enthusiasm to spend all day in the water. Since I was little I told myself that the day the motivation was not maximum, I would leave it. To be the best in the world you have to dedicate a lot of effort and passion, and if one day my passion diminished, I knew it would be the moment and that’s how I felt. It is just as important to know how to start as it is to know how to finish it. A couple of months ago I told the team that I was leaving so they could plan and prepare a new stage without me.

How was that meeting with the team?

They could imagine it, but since I’m half crazy too, they thought I would tell them that I would hold out until the Paris Games. They were training and once they got out of the water I explained it to them. There were tears and hugs, but I also think it’s good for them to start a new stage.

It was their reference and he ended up sharing a pool with them. He leaves a great legacy, not only for the medals.

I feel responsible for the values ​​that I have transmitted and the day to day that sport brings you: the importance of arriving at the pool on time, being polite, being respectful with your opponent, humility, effort, teamwork… Every time we are in a society where everything is more immediate, and we find that in the new generations it is difficult for them to have to work 4 years for an Olympic Games where you risk everything in 3 minutes. For me this is the magic of sport, and preparing yourself mentally and physically, that’s why it gives you some brutal tools for life. Transmitting this to the new generations for me is a challenge and a duty, more than the successes I have achieved, which are a process for me.

How have you grown on a personal level?

Experience is a degree. As a child it was hard for me to accept it, they told me to slow down and take my time, but I am very competitive and a fighter. Maturity and motherhood have given me other perspectives to understand the sport in a different way and not get upset if things don’t work out for me or they beat me, because perhaps it’s part of the way. In this sense, I have been changing over time, but until the day of the withdrawal the ambition has always been the same.

When did the desire to be a mother come to you?

I have never been one of those who wanted to be a mother since I was little. But a few years ago I was really excited and with Pablo we have been together for 13 years now. He is my only partner, my only stable relationship that I have had and since I was very little. Whether you like it or not, we had already discussed it many times and due to the difficulty of reconciling in the world of sport, I had been delaying it, which is why this is one of my challenges outside the pool but within the world of sport. Fighting for conciliation, making it visible and obtaining tools to make it real and that the word conciliation is not taken with forceps. I had wanted to be a mother for years and I was delaying it until I said now.

At what point did you decide to take the plunge?

I am convinced that it can be reconciled, and I am an example. And not only me, but many athletes who have done it. We have to claim and make that visible. In my case it hasn’t been so much that: “I can’t do it because of the sport or this puts me in the way.” It has been more due to a lack of passion for the synchronized and a lot of passion for the family and other new challenges. I have spent the first two years of Kai (his son) in the water and I also have new challenges and I want to experience them. I have been faithful to my values: if synchro doesn’t move me so much anymore, we’ll stop here. It is difficult to reconcile and I fully believe that we have to change things to make it more real. You can, but there are many difficulties. And that is my challenge.

What obstacles did you encounter?

I claim from a position of privilege, and feeling lucky and being aware of this. I have had stability and help at home, a scholarship, support from the Federation and trust from my coach and my work team. I think that one of the most important things, and it is not an economic thing, is not to feel judged by society and supported and trusting towards your environment. I am aware that in all professions, one of the handicaps that the mothers we reconcile have is to feel this support.

And on a medical level?

It is very important to have professionals accompany you during pregnancy and postpartum. Only if we were able to have the professionals and that they are under the umbrella of the scholarships, it would already be a great triumph. That there are nurseries in High Performance Centers is essential. If you have to go with a two-month-old baby to Sierra Nevada to train, how do you do it? There is a lot of work to be done, but we are on the way. Luckily we have created the Maternity and Sports Commission in the Spanish Committee, of which I am the president. We are doing a lot of work and I am proud. Hopefully for the Paris Olympics we have changed something, despite the fact that it is very difficult.

Precisely at the Tokyo Olympics you were the protagonist for denouncing that they did not let you combine the competition with breastfeeding your child.

Little by little I have been the standard bearer of conciliation in sport, but without looking for it. I had a lot of difficulty taking the baby to Tokyo and breastfeeding. I made a video that my mother recorded for me and when I posted it, it went everywhere: BBC, New York Times, Washington Post… Then I saw that perhaps it is more interesting than we thought. Why don’t we make it visible and put tools to improve it? There are many people who are joining this fight because until now no one had explained the stories of athletes who have been mothers and they have to be explained, because they are real and women must be made to understand that they can handle this and much more.

Being a mother and an athlete, how important is it to take care of yourself to stay at this level for so many years?

It is basic, that is why I valued it on the day of my retirement. I thought I had to explain it and make visible the importance of mental health. Elite sport has a very high demand in any environment, be it the pool, the field, the track, etc. We demand ourselves, but you have to take care and value the person. I believe that the same successes can be achieved by taking more care of the human component. It is very important to ask for help from professionals, go to psychologists, psychiatrists if necessary… In sport you deal with very young people with a lot of nerves and pressure and it is very delicate. You have to take care of yourself.

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And now that? What are your new projects?

I have a lot of work! I am creating my collection of swimsuits made with recycled plastics from the sea. I am in the maternity and sports commission, also doing a gastronomy section on TVE. I do not stop. In fact, I would like to stop something else, because since I was 14 years old I have been working ten hours a day and I also find that I need my moments. Now we will go to Menorca for two months and I am not going to pick up the phone, because I need to disconnect.