Emotional intelligence, the key to athletic performance?
The ironminds
March 28, 2022
In 2010 at the Ironman World Championship, eventual winner Chris McCormack was being hunted by Andreas Raelert who was getting closer and closer in th...
The evolution of women's sports, witnessed first-hand. The story of Susana, an athlete who became the role model she never had.
"Some time ago, but not so long ago" only a few women used to gather on Sunday mornings in Galicia at the starting line of the various popular triathlon races. They were not many, but they were regulars. Weekend after weekend they gathered, in a familiar atmosphere, almost recreational, but also harbored the ambitions and dreams of some of those who, without having hardly any female sports references, became one one one day.
This was the case of Susana, who has experienced a progressive growth in sports in which her efforts have finally been rewarded. Proclaimed Paralympic Champion in her category in triathlon at the last Tokyo Olympic Games, Susana reminds us today of the importance of believing in and working towards the goals one sets for oneself. Born into a family with no sporting tradition, she found in her mother and sister the best reference on a personal level.
She likes to emphasize that they never made differences with her in terms of her education and that perseverance and tenacity have brought her to where she is today. Since her beginnings in athletics, the idea of participating in the Olympics accompanied her, and it was in the discipline of triathlon where she made her debut in Rio 2016, going to Tokyo representing Spain in both disciplines, a milestone in her category.
In this path that Susana has traveled, in which she has also trained first as a physiotherapist, and then as a doctor, she has experienced the evolution of both the figure of women in sport and that of sports materials that are increasingly specific and designed for them. "Women are becoming more and more visible and more valued in sport. There are great sportswomen, there are coaches, judges, etc. and I think that sponsorship in sport is also getting closer to us".
So are the materials, as each season new technologies are developed, adapted to the different needs of women, designed by and for them. A trend that we see reflected in the new wetsuits that "fit us perfectly".
Susana, to her childhood self, I would tell her today to work and to fight for those crazy dreams, which can sometimes come true. Susana, today, is a Paralympic triathlon champion and a doctor. A woman who is undoubtedly a reference, both in sports and in the human aspect.
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