“As much as I screwed up, I agree with them” | Relief

Every rhythmic gymnastics fan remembers the summer of 2008 when Almudena Cid painted an imaginary heart on a Beijing tapestry that she kissed after performing the last Olympic ribbon routine of her career. Paloma del Rio praised her on TVE while Almudena waited for her note, looked into the camera and showed a drawing on film that showed her four Olympic cycles as a tribute to her own career. His smile stretched from ear to ear, but, as often happens in life, His face did not reflect the hidden challenge behind the happy ending.. Only a few of us knew then that on the way to Athens and Beijing They declared war on Almudena.oh, not Almudena herself He had to issue an order and threaten to blow everything up to protect his participation in two Olympic Games.. In fact, we learned about this thanks to his conversation with Quique Peinado in the last part of “El Vestuario” Relevo, where He burst into tears, remembering one of the most painful passages. your sports career. Below we transcribe a short excerpt of the entire conversation, where he describes in detail everything that he had to endure.

You can see Quique Peinado’s full interview with Almudena Cid in El Vestuario here.

Your famous four Olympic finals in a row allow you to become a professional gymnast before the age of 28, and this is the figure that broke everything, but you say that your last years as a gymnast were uncomfortable for the structures of your sport, you had a lot of problems. What happened there?”

So from 2000 to 2004 I decided to train with my coach in Catalonia because she was offered a coaching position there. When the Sydney Olympics ended, I competed with a torn meniscus, I had to have surgery because I tore it six months ago, and when I finished I had surgery and There was a power vacuum, there was no president, there was no smooth transition, there was no coach.

, almost everyone left, only me and another friend survived, so we went to our own clubs. Four months later, the new coach called me and told me I needed to come back, and I said: “Sorry, but I was worried about everything, I’m not calling for anything, I’m not leaving here now.”. So I thought it was normal because it was an individual sport, why should I be in a mode where the coach who comes doesn’t know me, while the other one has known me since childhood and knows my system of work? “Either you come, or you have to face the consequences.”, I was told. Then before the Athens games I was forced to fight with a classmate, which makes me very upsetBecause in the end, we both survived the qualifying system of four internal and four external competitions as best we could. We tied the internal ones, I won the external ones and I had to call the media to make this public. because no one gave me guarantees that I would have a place. I finally got it, but a month before I cracked the fascia in my leg, someone saw me with crutches in the CAR, warned me and called the checkpoint to measure me again when I was already in my seat. I called the Supreme Sports Council and said: “I’m going to the press.” and then they stopped it because that was the qualification system. It was very hard, and then to go to the Athens Games and do it well, do it well, because after the journey that you lived, which almost no one knows about, that they know now that I say it so calmly, you say : “Damn, if I screwed up, then I agree with them.” But I was very confident in my work, in fact I recovered from the fascia in record time, I visualized the tissues coming together every night and started doing all the work on the top, and When they took off my crutches, I stood up and didn’t lose anything.In fact, she took a break from the demands of fulfilling the plan, which means she even had a mental break. I was in the competition of my life and I thought, “This is fair.” I remember my ball score was booed because it was very low, and I told the crowd, “Calm down, calm down,” because after what happened, it was enough for me that I did the drill well.

And in Beijing?

Fine At the Beijing Games the coach tried to kick me outBecause I had a stress fracture in my foot, I was forced to compete in the Spanish Championships to go to the World Cup, and because I competed with a non-healing fracture, I broke it again. Then I took part in a figure skating program (“Desafío Bajo Cero” on Telecinco) and won it. Then I had the press again and I said, “We’re going back to fight,” and then (the Federation) said, “No, no, no, What can you do there? “And I: “Let me work in peace, work, if there is someone better than me, let me go, but please let me.” Then I went to Beijing, got my diploma again, but then I had some consequences of that psychological effort that… that look at the tapestry from the red line was like…

And it still hurts, doesn’t it?

Yes (Almudena cries)

This was many years ago, this was 15 years ago.

Because I think it’s not personal, it’s not personal, it’s not personal, but Damn, was it really that hard to listen to? Then they say that I am the standard for girls and I want to talk about it, I know that talking about it helps those in the elite set restrictions, although I set them, set them and stopped them, but then I had very disastrous consequences, because I learned that you can achieve anything through sacrifice, but I think you need to know that there are some things that are not worth it. And then you realize that you achieve your goal, you eventually achieve it, but I don’t want to think that in order to achieve anything in life I have to suffer because the consequences of that continue even if I heal. . Now I cry because in many ways I relate to the emotions of that moment. Then I go home and I’m fine, but I attribute a lot of it to the pain. And maybe that’s why I’m an actress too. Because I know how to connect as if it were today. That is, yesterday and today.

Why is high competition bad for your health?

Because you push your body to limits that aren’t even half normal, you end up with the ambition of not having to put in as much effort in the moment, but come out with a soaked, sleeping, broken leg… you end up doing things that in normal life you wouldn’t, which is why we’re so attractive to companies. When I say they hire athletes, it’s not because they’re good at the job, it’s because of their involvement, their high level of dedication, that extra thing they know how to give at the moment, when they ask for it. , because we have it integrated, which is then very dangerous, because one of the things I had to deal with was differentiating between effort and sacrifice.

What motivates you? Are you motivated to win or what motivates you to push things to the limit?

Well, in my sport you have to try to achieve perfection, it’s not about beating someone else, it’s about doing the best routine, taking the best training into the competition that is the hardest and then goes to the jury. In some sports, doping is a trap, but in our sport, I daresay it is part of the jury, they are the ones who make the decisions, and it is not very often that we agree on the criteria and how to apply them. In fact, at competitions there are complaints and records change, if this did not happen, we would all be happy, but if it exists, it is because it happens. So, he took me to do gymnastics for the public, I think that’s why I’m an actress now, because I like to tell stories, I like to somehow change what we have as a preset.