Ana Peleteiro and Saúl Craviotto, the two best Spanish athletes who perform in front of the cameras, presented the campaign of the Bridgestone wheel company, sponsor of Paris 2024, which chose them as Olympic ambassadors for Spain. The European triple jump champion spoke with MARCA and Radio MARCA.
Question: Of all the obstacles you have had to overcome, which has been the most complicated?
Answer: I think coming back in 2016 with almost no support, starting almost from scratch in a physical state [y se lo piensa para encontrar el baremo correcto]…not very good, it was one of the barriers, not the most difficult, but challenging. It wasn’t so clear to me that I would be able to return and become the person I am.
Q: What does a centimeter mean for a jumper?
A: For any athlete, a centimeter, a thousandth, a hundredth, a… Numbers in athletics are everything. In other words, you can be left out by an centimeter of the gold, of the medals, of a minimum for a great championship. One centimeter is all. And even sometimes a tie is everything, because then on the second jump you risk the result.
Q: How do you create a spirit as competitive as yours?
A: I think it’s something that you carry within you. Then, if you are intelligent and know how to exploit it, you can take it to stratospheric limits, which I think is what differentiates us from great athletes.
Sometimes I think about it and say man, could it be my competitiveness that made my biological mother give birth to me at home?
Will that competitiveness have helped you have that birth at home and not die? Because if I had given birth at home, my daughter would have died because she would not have been able to, because she had a problem. So this is a bit like the animal world, right? Those who survive are the strongest. Because if not, the wolf will eat you. And you carry that from your mother’s belly.
Q: Was anything kept in Rome despite the gold?
A: Yes, I did keep something back, to be honest. And it makes me angry to say it, but I think that if I had followed the Turkish path, if she had responded to me, I would have done more.
Q: You had a setback when you were 18 years old. Many women leave the sport at that age, more or less. From her experience, what would she say to those who do it?
A: It’s just that, do you know what happens? I don’t think that 18 or 19, which is when I had the problem, is the difficult stage for women, especially, but before. At 14, 15, 16… There, at that stage, although I was not as exposed, it was more difficult for me not to go to birthdays, not to go to parties, not to go out like my friends, to play sports. Because it wasn’t my job yet and it didn’t compensate me yet. And I did it out of obligation because my parents forced me, because I had to be responsible.
They told me: “You have decided to do athletics, you have to train and if you have to train on a Sunday and you can’t go out on Saturday with your friends, then you will have to sacrifice for your goal.”
The truth is that in that sense my parents have given me a very good education because they taught me to be responsible with what I wanted to do. Honestly, that stage from 14 to 16 was more difficult for me than the stage in Madrid, which, after all, was already my job, because I already had contracts and such, and then it was a bit of a lack of maturity and the fact of being alone.
Q: Michael Jordan made up enemies to improve in competition. He imagined that they looked at him badly.
A: All the time. It’s just unbearable. I mean, all the time I make things up, I make up enemies, I make up bad looks, I make up “she doesn’t respect me…” It’s my way of getting pissed off. In fact, I’ll tell you more. At the European Championships I didn’t know if I could jump with my spikes because there was the problem with World Athletics. And of course, I was pissed off with that situation.
So that situation made me think that now that it has been solved, I am going to jump a lot. I always need a stimulus to piss me off. My federation knows this, so I like it because then I’m sure someone will do something nasty to me before the final.
I have never jumped more in training than in a competition, but not even close. I think my personal training record is 14.30
Q: Is 15 meters an obsession? Have you ever jumped them in training before?
A: No way. I haven’t even been close. I have never jumped more in training than in competition, but not even close. I think my personal training record is 14.30. I mean, no, I’m not even close to that.
Q: What question bothers you the most?
A: I am very lazy about the questions they ask to annoy me. To look for a headline and then those people, if they headline like that, are going to use it so that people say: “This girl is an idiot.” That makes me angry, because those who know me and who listen to me live know that the things I usually say almost always have a coherence.
So, the fact that people stay with a headline and that they do not read the interview, or that they do not hear me out loud, makes them stay with that perception of me. It makes me a little angry, but at the same time I don’t care either, because I don’t care what people who don’t know me think.
But it makes me angry that people who don’t know me and only know that Ana from social networks or those she knows from social networks doesn’t usually happen, but especially from the press. It makes me angry because I say this is not what I said. But it’s like this to look for clicks, which at the end of the day I understand is your job and what you need, but it makes me angry.
Q: One month until the Games, how are you?
A: With great enthusiasm, with great calm, with peace of mind, which is the most important thing, focused on training, obviously, because we have events like today, with Bridgestone, which are important and that we have to face, but, concentrated , What is the most important. And with health.
Q: The preparation then goes smoothly.
A: One hundred percent. We have not had any unforeseen events, which should always be greatly appreciated in the world of sports, so let’s hope it continues that way.
Q: You have highlighted the support you received from sponsors, including Bridgestone, when you announced your pregnancy, even without having renewed.
A: Not only does it fill you with pride because you see that there are gigantic companies, such as Bridgestone, that trust in you for the Olympic Games, but obviously they are a driving force for your economic stability. favorable and that at least you have peace of mind. I always say that when an athlete has these sponsorships, apart from the fact that they are not only one year, but also four years, in this case three, because the Olympic cycle has been smaller, it gives the security of knowing that you will be able to face everything. with whatever comes. And that, whether you like it or not, is appreciated.
Q: Do you want to face the Olympic Games without covid, without a mask, without psychosis, without touching a railing the day before?
A: Yes, the truth is that it is. That is to say, I think that all athletes have been a little upset by this. There are many who travel on the plane with masks. I don’t know if I will travel to Paris with a mask as a precaution. I think that COVID has brought us many bad things, but at the same time it has also taught us and educated us a lot in what it is in terms of health and hygiene. But, of course, I really want to be able to hug everyone, not be afraid of anything, see the Olympic Stadium full and experience a real Olympic Games, because the ones in Tokyo were a bit of a simulation.
I don’t really like seeing my jumps again. I’m not a person who likes to look like I’m at my peak. I don’t think that helps me.
Q: Have you seen the European jump again?
A: Yes, I’ve seen it a couple of times. But you don’t believe that many don’t. I’m not a person who likes to look like he’s in the highest state of excellence. Because I think that doesn’t help me, because I’m not really like this every day. So I focus on every workout and every workout to be the best version of myself, but I haven’t seen it many times.
Q: You have talked about the issue of frustration. Craviotto has referred to the issue of lowering expectations. The other day in the mixed zone of the European Championship, you said that you were not signing the bronze.
A: I didn’t say I didn’t sign it. I sign any Olympic medal, but obviously I have and must dream of a gold. But just being in the Olympic Games is a feat that very few athletes, very few people can say they have done. But obviously just as in the eyes of Tokyo I did not arrive among the favorites, now I do arrive in the top 5 and I must face this opportunity as a challenge and try to conquer that dream that I have had since I was born.
Q: Can you dream of a Spanish double in triple jump?
A: We can dream because we have shown that we are ready to do so, but every championship is every championship. There are many factors that can get in the way, but I train with Jordan every day and I think it is possible, yes.
Q: Do you plan to see more competitions at the Games or have you looked at the program to see what other sports it matches?
A: Well look. I just said this and I almost had tears in my eyes. On Saturday Ray (Zapata) came to our house, who is my friend, and not to call him that of a colleague, but I am the godmother of his daughter. We were eating and I asked him when he was competing. And he told me he was competing on the 28th and I told him “how soon. This year we don’t coincide.” So, he goes and he tells me “no, the classification” and his wife asks him, “but the final?” And he says 3. And I say: “You’re kidding, right?” He asks me why I say that and I answer: “It’s because we coincide again on the date of the Olympic final.”
I swear I got goosebumps just thinking that we can repeat what we already did in Tokyo. I only know that Ray competes that day and it makes me tremendously excited.
