The European Championship is drawing to a close and the Games are already rolling towards the runway. There is no respite. There are two and a half weeks left until the Paris Olympics, the Seine River is undergoing intensive drainage to purify the waters while the Spanish team is taking shape, awaiting possible last-minute news. This is the second largest representation in its history (382 athletes), almost 70 more than three years ago in Tokyo (314), although, distilled, this figure is even better, since the record number reached in Barcelona 92 (430) was due to the status of host. This time, all the places have been obtained through international selection, without privileges.
The second milestone is that, for the first time, there are now more women (192) than men (190) in the delegation, a fact that illustrates the strength of women’s sport in Spain. Only three years ago, in Tokyo, in a total expedition significantly smaller than the current one, the disproportion in favour of men was still clear: 183-131. This overtaking, or de facto equalisation, is nothing more than proportional to recent successes, since in the last three Games around half of the medals have been named after women. In Paris, the national athletics team, the fetish discipline of each Olympic event, will be a good example of the new scenario: 31 women and 26 men.
No one hides the fact that the aim is to surpass Barcelona’s 22 medals (13 gold, seven silver and two bronze), won in the heat of home field at an event that changed the course of Spanish Olympic sport. The goal requires a significant leap forward because in the two previous editions (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020), Spain was left with 17. In fact, in the seven Games since 1992, it has only been able to reach the mark of 20 on two occasions (Athens 2004 and London 2012).
The meritorious qualification of the men’s basketball team on Sunday once again underlined Spain’s status as a world power in team sports. A success that has often been linked to the union spirit and less individualistic spirit of the national sportsmen. They have qualified 11 of the 16 possible, two more than in Tokyo and Rio, and as many as in Barcelona, when it was the host. Only the two in indoor volleyball have been left out (the men’s team has not competed in them since Sydney 2000 and the women’s team only competed in Barcelona 92), both in rugby sevens and the men’s 3×3 basketball.
With Rudy Fernández (39 years old) as the great reference point for the Spanish teams, as he is the only basketball player in history to have gone to six Games, this has been a traditional breeding ground for medals (19 from Barcelona), sown in the first week of competition and collected in the second. In Paris, the great contenders are the women’s football team (making its debut in an Olympic event) led by the recently renewed Montse Tomé; the men’s team of Santi Denia (silver in Japan) is also expected to be far away; the two water polo teams (both are current world bronze medalists); and always with an eye on the competitive gene of the Hispanic handball team. Men’s basketball, once a team that responded to American dominance, today seems far from those heights.
Premiere on Wednesday 24th
Beyond the teams, the identity of the two flag bearers, canoeist Marcus Cooper (Oxford, England; 29 years old; gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo) and sailor Támara Echegoyen (Orense, 40 years old; gold in London), points to two other wells that Spain hopes to take advantage of again. Sailing has won 15 medals since the explosion of Barcelona 92 and canoeing, as many this century. Every success, or misfortune, will have its postcard, but few are as sought after as the combination of Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz (they will also compete in singles). Nobody knows when the Balearic will have its last breath.
Two days before the opening ceremony on Friday 26 July, when the competition will cross the supposedly clean waters of the Seine from the Austerlitz bridge on a romantic film-like ride, the competition will have already lifted the barrier for Spain. The men’s football team, the sport poor The women’s team will make its debut on Wednesday 24th at 3pm at the Parc des Princes against Uzbekistan. The following day, the women’s team (in this case the senior team; the men’s team is the under-23 team plus up to three players over that age) will face Japan in Nantes (5pm); and the women’s handball team will make its debut against Brazil (2pm) in a key match for them.
Of the 32 sports on the Olympic list, and pending last-minute changes, right now Spain would only be missing four disciplines: breakingrugby sevens, wrestling and weightlifting (plus track volleyball). Lidia Valentín retired ten months ago, the weightlifter who said goodbye with three Olympic medals (silver in 2008, gold in 2012 and bronze in 2016; the first two after disqualification of rivals), this sport has gone from four participants in Tokyo to none in Paris.