The Great of Spain – AS.com

Nadal is the undisputed king of sports in Spain. The 38-year-old Spaniard represents the perfect harmony of talent, work, effort, dedication and heart.

“For those who have no limitations, there are no obstacles,” Felipe VI told Rafa Nadal after winning his 22nd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros 2022. From king to king. This is Spain and Spanish sports. Rafa became a historical flag thanks to his performance on the tennis court and conveying to the fans a feeling that surpasses his skill with a racket in hand. Talent, work, effort, dedication and heart made Manacori a perfect harmony that allowed him to become the best Spanish athlete of all time. On October 10, 2024, he announced that he would retire at the end of the Davis Cup with Spain. The sport will miss him greatly.

Without wishing to create an ordered list beyond the undisputed great of Spain, this is a list without positions of national athletes who, for one reason or another, should be considered among the most important in our country:

Fernando Alonso

The Asturian has turned the specialist sport of Formula 1 into a constant topic of conversation in the bars of Spain. Two World Championships (2005 and 2006) and three finals, as well as 32 wins, 106 podiums, 22 pole positions and 26 fastest laps, place him among the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. He put Formula 1 aside and achieved greater success in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship… At 43, he continues to give masterclasses behind the wheel of Aston Martin in Formula 1.

Pau Gasol

The player from Sant Boi became the second Spaniard to reach the NBA, after Fernando Martin, and he was also the leader of an inimitable generation that led Spanish basketball to the highest levels. Rookie of the Year for the Memphis Grizzlies, he formed a deadly partnership with Kobe Bryant that made the Lakers champions in 2009 and 2010, and Pau became a perennial All-Star and one of the biggest stars in world basketball. Meanwhile, he won gold at the 2006 World Championships, three golds (2009, 2011 and 2015), two silvers and two bronzes at EuroBasket, two Olympic silvers and one bronze…

Severiano Ballesteros

Seve was a genius who came out of nowhere and became the standard-bearer for restoring the prestige and competitiveness of European golf to American golf. At the age of 19 he was chosen as the best European player of the year. From then until his retirement, he won two Masters (the first European to do so), three British, five Ryder Cups and five World Match Play Championships, as well as nearly a hundred titles throughout his career to be considered the best player. The 20th century European who finally raised the level of competitive golf on the old continent to that of the United States. The Cantabrian died in 2011 with an overall record of 96 titles won. His golf career also earned him the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit (1993) and the Prince of Asturias Award (1989).

Manolo Santana

The greatest legacy of the best Spanish tennis player before Rafa Nadal is not his sensational record, but the fact that, under his shadow, tennis became a fashionable sport. Santana marked success not only in Spanish, but also in European tennis. He won Roland Garros in 1961 and 1964, the US Open in 1965, the first player from the old continent to do so since 1928, and Wimbledon in 1966 after twelve years during which the Americans and Australians had been humiliatingly dominant. He also won gold in singles and silver in doubles at the 1968 Mexico Games.

Paco Fernandez Ochoa

When, on February 13, 1972, the news arrived that the little Spaniard from Cercedilla had won the gold medal in alpine skiing at the Winter Games in Sapporo, on the other side of the world, all of Spain could not help but be amazed. Paquito was the first, the herald, who began a new era in Spanish sport, which has since become Olympic, and ushered in a stream of brilliant athletes who have achieved success throughout the world in almost every conceivable specialty.

Federico Martin Bajamontes

July 18, 1959 is a date engraved in gold in the history of Spanish sport. On that day, Federico Martin Bajamontes from Toledo made history by becoming the first Spaniard to win the general classification of the Tour de France. Bajamontes’ triumph paved the way for Spanish cyclists to win the Tour de France. Luis Ocaña in 1973, Pedro Delgado in 1988, Miguel Indurain between 1991 and 1995, Oscar Pereiro in 2006, Alberto Contador in 2007 and 2009 and Carlos Sastre in 2008 also managed to repeat the success that Fede achieved as pioneer of Spanish sports on July 18, 1959 in Paris.

Angel Nieto

Nieto not only distinguished himself with his 12+1 world titles: seven in the 125cc class and six in the 50cc class. This number was surpassed only by Agostini’s 15 titles. His true legacy, which will make him unforgettable, is that he is probably the man who worked the most to shape the Motorcycle World Championship as we know it today, modernizing and professionalizing its structure, improving it image and its competitive meaning, as well as creating crazy people who at one time risked their lives almost as a hobby on city highways without any security, are now the protagonists of a spectacle that has no analogues in the automotive universe.

Saul Craviotto

Interestingly, despite winning gold in the K2 500 at the 2008 Beijing Games, he won two more medals at Rio 2016 (gold in the K2 200 and bronze in the K1 200) and another in Tokyo (silver in the K4), he always repeats that the best moment of his life came in London in 2012. That same weekend he won silver in the K1 200, went with his girlfriend to celebrate and proposed to her in the middle of Piccadilly Circus, and ended up being Spain’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony. . Bronze in the K4 500 in Paris makes him the national athlete with the most Olympic medals, with six in total (two gold, two silver and two bronze).

Miguel Indurain

The Navarrese is one of the greatest cyclists in history thanks to the strength that allowed him to dominate in time trials and in the mountains. He won five Tours (consecutively), as did Anquetil, Merckx and Hinault, and became part of cycling’s poker greatest. Two Giros, a world time trial, an Olympic time trial gold, two Paris-Nice, a Dauphine, an hour record… improving the record of a cyclist who looked like a robot on the handlebars of a bicycle.

Mireya Belmonte

The best Spanish athlete of the last 50 years became the undisputed queen of the world in the 200m butterfly, during which she was proclaimed Olympic champion in Rio 2016 and won silver in 2012 in London. As well as being a formidable competitor in the middle distances, both freestyle and style (she won silver in London in the 800m freestyle and bronze in Rio in the 400m). This versatility allows her to be the athlete who tops Spain’s historical Olympic rankings with four medals: one gold, two silver and one bronze. Due to shoulder problems, the Catalan will not be able to say goodbye to major competitions.

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz was recently named the world’s best rally driver, ahead of Loeb. In addition to two World Rally Championships (1990 and 1992) and four Dakar Rallies (2010, 2018, 2020 and 2024), El Matador has amazing achievements on his resume, such as being the first non-Scandinavian player to win the Rally 1000 race. lakes or the title of the best driver in history, developing and preparing rally cars.

Gervasio Deferre

He was the leader of the golden generation of Spanish gymnasts. His Olympic record is excellent: two gold medals on vault in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and a silver on floor exercise in Beijing 2008. He is also very charismatic due to his rebellious nature and magnetism, which has made him very popular and even a personality. . There is no more successful gymnast in the history of Spanish sports. In January 2011, at just 30 years old, the Barcelona native retired with three Olympic medals, two golds on vault (2000 and 2004) and one silver on floor exercise (2008). He also has three silver medals, all freestyle, between the European and World Championships, as well as 11 medals, five of them gold, at the World Cup.

Mark Marquez

Six MotoGP titles make the man from Ilerda the best rider in the history of Spanish motorsport, courtesy of Angel Nieto. After winning the 125cc World Championship in 2010 at the age of 17 and Moto2 at the age of 19, he entered MotoGP at the age of 20 in 2013 and became champion, breaking all precocity records in the premier class. He thus joined Mike Hailwood, Phil Reid and Valentino Rossi in the exclusive club of drivers who were champions in three different categories.

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