Berta Ferreras and a Spanish synchro team in search of the last magic

“It’s hard to be there at twelve o’clock and know that eight are traveling with a replacement option. We all want to go and many emotions and many dreams come with it. “We are fighting to do our best,” he said. Berta Ferreras. Spanish artistic swimming aims to identify its ‘eight’ in the next few hours for Paris 2024 Games, the great goal of the Olympic cycle. A cycle that has been brilliant: that of the team’s great recovery to re-establish itself on the front line.

The eleven girls on the team have worked for the past few weeks with the goal of earning a spot. He Doha World Cup Last February, where Spain confirmed its great sensations with the world silver in the technical equipment, it maintained a very high level of demand to aim for the final cut of the Olympic team. To this end, the national team has worked tirelessly in recent weeks, without neglecting itself and others a European in the center of which hung the gold in his fetish test.

“It’s not normal to have a championship so close to the Games and we went into it with full strength. This is a very important championship in our minds,” said Berta. Especially, to get here the improvements made in that technical team since the world runner-up. “Ultimately, we draw conclusions from Doha on each task. They all had things we wanted to improve and we believe we achieved that. We tried to cover everything for Paris,” he explained.

Spain will attend the Games with ambition. It hasn’t happened in twelve years. After the great explosion in the Beijing 2008 cycle, crowned with silver by the team, the podium was repeated with bronze in London 2012. The cycle for Rio was complicated, because Spain did not enter the Olympic event. The regeneration experienced for Tokyo 2021 at the hands of the coaching staff led by Mayuko Fujiki has experienced his peak in three years of great results: world bronze in ‘highlight’ in 2022, gold in the technical team and free team in the 2023 European Games, universal gold in the technical team in 2023, world silver in the technical team in 2024 and European gold in the technical team a few weeks ago.

The most important reference, at the moment, is this year’s World Cup. “The sensations are wonderful. The choreographies have positive feedback and this gave us more desire to continue improving these past months,” said Berta. Spain did it: it never relaxed. “In the end, the preparation is guided by the coaches. “Mayu is in charge of how to execute each step to reach the goal,” he added.

Three choreographies without rotation of other championships

If there’s one routine that leaves the most room for improvement, it’s this acrobatic, which joins traditional technique and freestyle in the Games. Spain took it first in Doha, got the first review from the judges and established here the basis of work in recent months in a key discipline to qualify for medals. “Distance can be recovered. We learned and drew conclusions. We are working to improve the aspects that we believe are important,” explained Berta. “With the regulations there is uncertainty and you don’t know how you compare to others. We had no expectations. We simply wanted to give our best version,” he assessed the result at the time.

He didn’t swim that choreography in Qatar, but the free team did. One of the most complicated steps a selector has to manage these days is the final composition of the Olympic team. Although the program increased from two to three activities, the number of swimmers present did not increase, a situation that would cause severe damage that Spain had prepared. “The rotation in the team is the decision of the coaches and it is something complicated. In Doha there are many and here it will be different” Berta admitted.

His great desire, like his comrades, is to enter it. Because of this, Berta Ferreras has lost weight in recent months. “We never talk about results. Just about our execution and what we want to achieve in the water“, Explanation. But it is not detailed. “You will see what we want to convey when we compete,” he adds with a laugh. Yes, he is clear where he wants to see the Spanish team in Paris. “I don’t know how to celebrate a medal. This cycle is totally different from the previous ones because you can dream,” he says, aware that the correct execution of the choreographies will be key to being able to aspire to the podium.

Spain has been dreaming for three years and more than anything is proving that dreams can come true. China and Japan have dominated recent major championships. But, eventually, Spain, the United States and Ukraine left their mark. “We all have an inner magic to know that there are possibilities”, said Berta, convinced of the choices of a team that wants to be ambitious in Paris. That’s the big challenge: find the perfect end to a magical Olympic cycle for the Spanish ‘syncro’.