2023-08-01 06:30:19
He’s back home now, but God knows what a trip he’s had Mireia Hernández from Lloret in Japan, where he won the world bronze in synchronized swimming in a mixed duet alongside Dennis Gonzalez. Extra credit, moreover, for the short time with which the couple prepared. “We started competing together in June, but it’s very easy to work with him, we both like to choreograph and we understand each other very well in this regard.”
Thus, both of them did their part to end up polishing an exercise that departs from the more classic conventions that a mixed duet incites: It deals with angels and demons. To contrast, China hung the gold with Romeo and Juliet. The important thing, of course, is the execution. In the case of the Lloret woman, she “had never done a choreography of this style in terms of power, but we knew very well how to look for explosiveness and a more aggressive swim by demons and by angels, more contact without losing this strength». To the judges, he convinced them and indeed they were the best in the world in the field of artistic printing.
“Last year, this might have won us», explains Hernández who, like the rest of his teammates and the organization itself, is still adapting to the big change in regulations this season. Broadly speaking, the new scoring is based on that of figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics, imposing a new scoring scale. In this way, the difficulty of an exercise will cause it to be scored to a greater or lesser extent, serving as a weighting element. “You have to take risks, but the price is expensive”, warns the Lloret woman, aware that, now, a mistake is more expensive than ever. “If you don’t do exactly the figure you declared or you make a mistake executing it, the penalty can deduct many points.” For this reason, video analysis, as it has happened in recent years with so many other sports, becomes relevant. The routines are more and more demanding, and small modifications will continue to be made, improving those aspects that don’t quite work. “There have already been changes, because everyone is betting on maximum difficulty and it forgets a little about the artistic side, which makes the sport nice to watch», explains Hernández. In addition, he defends, “the regulation must be homogenized, since it varies in each modality, and, in the end, it is important that we all have an opinion and give ideas so that it continues to evolve.” The selvatana also celebrates that, now, “everyone dreams of winning a medal, that before you had fewer options to be at the top and compete”.
Sport has no gender
The revolution of recent years in synchronized swimming, however, is another, that of gender equality, with an inclusion “which is usually the other way around”, as Mireia rightly points out. Spain is a pioneer and the Llorente woman is “proud to be part of this in return”. It doesn’t take long to brag that “the two boys on the team (in Dennis and Fernando Díaz del Río) are world champions”, and he smiles thinking that “this can encourage many people to enter the sport and, hopefully, make it Olympic». With the results of this season, Hernández would have enough numbers to have a place in Paris 2024, but the mixed duet modality is not part of those that will be held there. “Now the boys can compete with a maximum of two per team, but not individually, which would be another step to take, because they really contribute a lot with their physical conditions.”
This year, competing in pairs, Hernández has seen it first hand, and the results have been excellent. Just before the world bronze, without going any further, the European gold had arrived, also with Dennis. Before that, with Fernando, they had progressed from a bronze in Canada to a silver in France and gold in Egypt, in tests of the World Series. They were the first competitions with different routines, until the one of angels and demons was consolidated. “We were always looking for the essence of the artistic impression, but it was necessary to shoot more because of the difficulty, and little by little we have been increasing it in each test.” The work has been long and hard, but it is worth it. It was done together with all the team members, namely Mireia, Dennis and Fernando, in addition to Emma Garcia and Judith Calvo and the coaches Anna Vega and Gemma Mengual. “We all did everyone’s routines and learned together, trying new strategies”, explains the swimmer from Lloret, who despite enjoying training alone has always preferred to compete with teams. “The feeling of being able to trust someone and that someone can trust me.”
From Hungary to Japan
Those in Japan were not Mireia Hernández’s first world championships. Last year he already lived in some in Budapest, those, however, with an outdoor pool. “I’ve always liked it better this way, because the air is much purer and it’s nicer to see, but the installation that can be achieved in a covered one, especially with the platform, ends up shocking.” Now, he admits, he must have noticed the latter too because, then, “I competed with teams (they also got bronze) and in Japan there were only two of us up there.”
This bit of experience, however, helped her to face this last world championship, which, in any case, they were well prepared for. “We have been doing an adaptation campus in Yamaguchi for almost a month, because there is an agreement between federations, and then on to Fukuoka”. No world championships had been organized there since 2001 and, in fact, this was supposed to be in 2021. “They had to spend two years maintaining the facilities but they were still incredible, there was everything: a competition pool, ‘training and warm-up, always with music’, explains Hernández. “You can see the Japanese side of everything very well ordered, nothing escaped anywhere, neither in the hotel nor in the transport”.
Grow from water
This is what the swimmer from Lloret did in pursuit of her dream. dit’s from the five years she did synchronized, first in Calella, then in Granollers and, at 14, going to the Blume residence. He was there for three courses before settling in the CAR de Sant Cugat. It’s hours and hours of training, gym, even ballet, “for elasticity”, in addition to nutrition and taking care of injuries, one of the most complicated aspects. “I’ve had them at inopportune moments, it’s the other side of sport, and you need support”, he opens, “you give everything and things happen that you don’t expect, the pressure affects you and you need a psychological base ».
It’s a hard effort, “but sport has given me things that are very difficult to explain”. In addition to the values of “teamwork, respect and humility”, sport has made Mireia “mature much faster”. “I was very shy, and since the water I have lost this fear; when I threw myself into it, I stopped being ashamed, I didn’t care what they thought of me, I was a different person». With synchronized swimming, the selvatana can “forget everything, and if she’s competing even better, because I like to express what I feel, it’s the artistic part of being able to make magic in the water.”
#woman #Lloret #lives #synchronized #swimming #revolution