Four Olympic Games!
From the 1996 to the 2008 Games: breaking ageism!
What did ageism impose?
That at 24 he was not supposed to compete in the 2004 Games.
Why not?
“Too big!”. He usurped the place of other younger rhythmic gymnasts.
That’s what they accused him of? You resisted…
Until I was 28, when I retired. Today we applaud 30-year-old rhythmic gymnasts: experience, charm…
You were a pioneer, you paved the way.
The beauty of a new movement, a contribution matters more than the medals.
What was yours?
El Cid Tostado, a type of figure, and let the ball roll from the foot to the hip, on the ground, without touching it.
Rhythmic gymnastics is very demanding.
I sacrificed childhood, experiences with family, birthday parties…
Of your own volition?
At the age of five I was touching my head with my big toe. And overcoming myself motivated me. And it went on and on…
In spite of everything
Despite feeling strange, alone, pushed aside for being different. My teammates were going to Alpati… and I had to catch up on overdue homework due to training and competitions.
Without complaining about it?
I resigned myself in silence. I was doing it wrong: you have to say things! I learned this today.
Fight against bullying today.
I teach that we are all unique and different. And that feeling different isn’t bad: it’s good!
We claim our rarities!
They are always a value: you have to wield them.
with pride
I was just writing a diary, frustrated…
Explain to me a hard trance.
“You’re fat”. A coach tells you because you’ve gone from girl to woman and your body changes… “Today, half dinner!”, they prescribed in the gymnasts’ residence.
What a wild
Today it is no longer so, happily.
I don’t want to ask her her weight: I could encourage a little girl towards anorexia.
But anorexias are multifactorial: they mask a hyper-perfectionist personality, very self-demanding…
Yeah?
They feel any adversity as a loss of control and see that there is one thing they can control: what they eat!
And believing they will get better… they kill themselves.
I stopped competing and soon lost that fibrous body, and I had to work hard to accept my new body.
To live is to fit changes?
Look at me, who thought I would live forever with my husband… and he left me. And then you feel… real shit.
To what extent?
It seemed to me that my entire being was going down the toilet drain.
But today I see her happy. How did you do it?
Pulling the chain. And the shit is gone. Because the shit was out, the shit wasn’t me! And everything is already very clean.
How did he pull the chain?
Differentiating effort and sacrifice.
Tell me the difference.
I used to go to the sacrifice: if the sacrifice had given me success in sport…, I should also give them to my partner!
Did I sacrifice myself?
I normalized the sacrifice as a couple, but today I know that I don’t have to save anyone.
Era dependent?
With my ex I always walked on tiptoes, like in gymnastics. I’ve learned that no, that you have to walk without toes: it’s the effort, deciding in my favor.
I read criticism against you for not giving your husband a child.
It’s horrible to read this, it’s so hard… Nobody knows anything, nothing… I never refused motherhood!
No?
No. But I did experience situations in my relationship that led me…or rather, they led my subconscious to postpone motherhood.
Your subconscious?
It was an intuition, yes. And today I know that my subconscious was right. That it was right to postpone, to wait… Time has proven right to my intuitions!
What gives you the most joy today?
The theatre! I played one of the women who in 1917 inaugurated women’s football, then banned until 1971! And it gives me great satisfaction to write Olympia, a character in my stories for girls and boys.
What would you like to convey to them?
That they are not alone with their feelings: they have to share them with others.
If you had a daughter, what would you advise her?
Love your differences! Listen to your intuitions! And, above all, always be yourself, be you.
