In the High Performance Center of Granada, the swimmers of the Spanish team express their physical and psychological preparation for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Jesús Ortiz / dxtadaptado.com
At the foot of the Veleta, where the clouds embrace the mountain, stands the Sierra Nevada High Performance Center, an idyllic place, chosen by the world’s sports elite to express their physical and psychological preparation. One of its jewels is the 50-meter pool in which swimmers forge medals. Some members of the Spanish team that will be at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo have traveled there to work for three weeks in a kind of monastic confinement, although with everything they need at their disposal for the set-up.
Iván Salguero, José Ramón Cantero, María Delgado and Santiago Márquez.
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Since 1996, José Luis Vaquero, national coach of swimming for the blind, goes up every year with his group. “Here we are already preparing for the Atlanta Games, there are many medalists who have passed through this site. It is ideal for the athlete, it is at 2,320 meters. The key factor that exercise in height contributes is hypoxia or oxygen deficiency. As there is less atmospheric pressure, the air does not enter the cells so easily, there is an increase in red blood cells and, therefore, it causes an improvement in performance when it is then lowered to sea level ”, explains the technician.
Several cameras collect in detail all the phases of the swim to exhaustively study each movement and see the evolutions. “It has a leading biomechanics department in the world, these underwater footage allows us to collect data and precise information to correct those small details at the moment and thus scratch tenths of a second. It also has a gym for dry work and recovery rooms in ice-water baths or saunas. It is a tremendous center ”, he adds.
During these days, together with the coaches Guiomar Quiñones and Santiago Márquez, he is in charge of tuning a handful of swimmers who fight to be in Tokyo next summer, such as Enhamed Enhamed, María Delgado, Iván Salguero, Juan Ferrón, Borja Sanz, José Ramón Cantero, Kike Alhambra and Ariadna Edo. “They are at a good level, better even than at some point in their sporting career, perhaps it is because of their desire and motivation. They are training very hard, being in height is not easy and on top of that we give them some physical beatings, but they take it well, “he says.
Disconnect from social life
Jaume Marcé, another marshal of Spanish swimming, also highlights the privilege of the peace of the mountains and having the tools to work. “Here they train and rest, they don’t have to worry about social life. They disconnect from the day to day and mentally work better, changing a place helps them emotionally, makes them mature because at home you are sheltered by family and friends, while in the mountains you disconnect from that area and change the chip with new stimuli. We are pursuing an ambitious goal, the Tokyo Games, so athletes welcome these concentrations with great enthusiasm ”, he says.
Núria Marquès, Marian Polo, Óscar Salguero, Jacobo Garrido and Toni Ponce.
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The Catalan coach is expressing the potential of his group these days, made up of Toni Ponce, Núria Marquès, Óscar Salguero, Marian Polo and Jacobo Garrido. “I am very happy with the performance. During the confinement at home, they continued to work and physically arrived strong and very hungry. The quality of the training has increased due to the desire they have. The Games were taken away from them and there is nothing better than having lost something to value it more. Most of them have been good, I see them at the top ”, he emphasizes.
Under the peaks of the Granada massif these days, Fred Vernoux and his team, led by Mireia Belmonte, coincide. “Meeting athletes of a high world level motivates you to continue training hard,” says María Delgado. The double bronze medalist in Rio de Janeiro 2016 is enraptured every time she goes to the Andalusian facilities: “You feel a special energy. I love the atmosphere and the surroundings, you breathe fresh air, it is spectacular when you look through the window of the room, you can enjoy an incredible sunrise and sunset. They are intense training sessions, we increase the sessions, but they are worth it for the benefits it brings you later, we notice a great improvement ”.
When he hung up his competition swimsuit at the London 2012 Games, Enhamed Enhamed vowed never to return to the Sierra Nevada. His opinion changed last year when he returned to the pools. “Before I retired, for me the CAR was hell on earth, it forced you to exert yourself brutally. Now I take it differently, so much that I enjoy it. It’s a luxury, you don’t have to do anything, just train, it’s like being in a monastery. You go from the pool or the gym to eat and to the room to read, write or sleep, ”says the canary, who in September tested positive for Covid-19, although with mild symptoms. “It looked like a simple cold, for a couple of days I lost my smell and taste. They were strange days, blind and on top of that I am left without two other senses ”, he laughs.
Enhamed Enhamed in the CAR gym.
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In a few weeks he has returned to his best form and ensures that the stay in the mountains will be good for him to face the next competitions, the Castalia Trophy and the Spanish Championship in Oviedo in December. “Physiologically, you notice an improvement, it is as if you took a jump of two or three months in the season and then you fly at sea level. But it also has consequences, such as rapid muscle destruction and lower defenses, you have to keep an eye on the hours of sleep and food. In short butterfly series I’m fast, maybe I’ve never seen myself like this, which surprises me. Before the end of the year I would like to achieve the minimum for Tokyo because that would give me peace of mind to face the rest of the course, “he says.
Spartan days
The alarm clock rings early and after breakfast it’s time to work dry in the gym or go to the water to devour laps. After lunch, nap and again at the pool. Group therapy, dinner and to bed. “Some of us carry the books and notes in our suitcases to continue with the online classes. I am studying Physiotherapy and coming here helps me to dedicate more time to it and focus on my studies, since at home I have a thousand things to do and it is easier to get distracted. Furthermore, now in Granada everything is closed due to restrictions, we only go out to buy something in a supermarket ”, says Núria Marquès.
The Paralympic champion in 400 freestyle S9 and world gold in 200 styles emphasizes that the concentrations in Sierra Nevada are a mixture of emotions. “On the one hand, you want to go and train because afterwards you look much stronger than before. But on the other, you know that up there you will suffer a lot because you do not stop, double sessions in the water and interspersed with preparation in the gym or cardio on the track. The good thing is that you isolate yourself from social commitments and your mind is only training like a beast and sacrificing yourself. From here you come out very physically and mentally strengthened. It will be good for us for the next competitions, where we will test ourselves to see all the work done ”, concludes the Barcelona woman.
Núria Marquès in the swimming pool of the CAR of Sierra Nevada.
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Toni Ponce, one of the best swimmers in the world in the S5 category, is grateful that they can continue training “in luxury facilities, we are privileged as many swimming clubs are closing due to the second wave of the pandemic. For us, stopping now again would be a blow for the Games. At the moment we are going to comply with the preparation plan to the letter in these 21 days and hopefully this lasts for us. We go to CAR to give everything, there are times when you have a hard time, there is muscle pain, but your performance increases. You are in a relaxed and more favorable psychological environment, without obligations ”.
The Catalan has never experienced a concentration like this, “since before we could disconnect by taking a walk through Granada or going to a shopping center, that is missed. I take advantage of my free time to read, watch movies or sleep. This type of training works for me, at sea level there is a great improvement, it helps you to do the last meters of apnea swim, to endure more underwater, to make the longest turns or to breathe less times to swim when maximum ”, adds Ponce, who last month broke the world record in 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke in the Berlin World Series.
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