COE’s II Women and Sports Conference was a huge success

Showcasing and highlighting all the great women from different parts of the sports world has been the main objective of the II Women and Sports Conference. Twelve talented people gathered this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee for a day that seeks to raise awareness and reflect on the importance of women in the world of sport.

Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, was in charge of closing the event, where he began by highlighting that “it is very important to organize this type of event.” “Equality should be achieved and people should be able to express themselves based on their value and not because of their gender,” he continued to explain. Furthermore, she emphasized that “these days we don’t need to equate men and women, but highlight the value of all women, because you are role models and the future of girls depends a lot on you.”

The first round table of the day consists of six athletes and former athletes, pioneers in their disciplines who represent the past, present and future of Spanish sport and leave a legacy, not only in sport, but also in society. Lydia Valentín (weightlifting), Adriana Cerezo (taekwondo), Laura Ester (water polo), Laura Heredia (modern pentathlon) and Laura Fuertes (boxing) spoke about the difficulties they went through when they started, the lack of references and the progress in the level of equality that sport has experienced in recent years.

Lydia Valentín remembers that her beginnings were not easy: “There are no women like that today.” In this sense, Adriana Cerezo acknowledged that “I had a better path than other athletes”, although she maintained the goal of “continuing to pave the way for women coming from behind”.

If the beginnings were difficult, in part, it was due to the lack of female role models, something that Laura Ester remembers: “When I started there were no female role models. They were not talked about. Gradually, more a lot of people are talking about us and we can see that the little girls already know us.” Furthermore, she said that “it’s great that girls can have good female role models from a young age and want to practice their sports.”

Laura Heredia was the first Spanish woman to qualify for the Olympic Games, an achievement that, as she confirmed, set her a clear goal: “I realize that my participation will be a change in the modern pentathlon. I want to give more visibility and inspire men and women to practice my sport. Let them see that if I can do it, so can they.”

Following this line, Laura Fuertes celebrated that the perception of boxing as a masculine sport has changed. “There is a lot of progress and that makes me happy, because there are more and more girls and more girls,” she commented with emotion.

For her part, Ruth Beitia left a protest message that contained a clear desire for the future: “That we don’t have to talk about women’s days and sports, that we talk about about athletes, regardless of gender. May we experience full equality in sport.”

After a short break, the second round table began, starring the six other women who will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, and aimed to highlight the performance. Women who have positions of great responsibility and who, despite being less visible, play roles that are very important to carry out the sporting activity.

This second table is composed by Alejandra Quereda, selector of the national rhythmic gymnastics team, Elena Benítez, technical director of the Royal Spanish Taekwondo Federation, Mónica Solana, physiotherapist of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation, Vanesa Chichón, international fencing referee, Asunción Loriente , president of the Spanish Rowing Federation and Manuela González, member of the medical service of the Spanish delegation to the Olympic Games.

Mónica Solana claimed the hidden work of medical and physiotherapy services: “Athletes cannot always perform at 100% or tighten the screws without physiotherapy. Because of this, they get medals and Olympic minimums.” A comment reinforced by Manuela González, who explains that, in addition, “improving the quality of life and sports of athletes is our motivation and our background.”

Alejandra Quereda is the living representation of sacrifice and passion for sport. “After Rio 2016, I was planning to give up gymnastics. But, at some point, I changed my life and became a national team coach. What was in the background became the center again and I continued to put the same desire and effort to achieve the goal: to be in Paris 2024.

Like today’s athletes, these six women also had to face great hardships. Elena Benítez explained that “when I started playing sports, you had to accept certain stereotypes.” Subsequently, she commented that “we have created a job and a path so that no girl has to consider whether a sport is suitable for her or not because she is a girl.”

Vanesa Chichón celebrated that the International Fencing Federation is “more supportive of women”, something that “helps us develop and show everything we can do”.

For her part, Asunción Loriente left a clear message that helped prepare her way to the presidency of the Spanish Rowing Federation: “I don’t know the additional difficulties I have being a woman, because I don’t thinking I have to be disabled for this.”