Maria Delgado, Paralympic swimmer: “I have to focus on being the best I can be and if something good is going to happen, it will come”

María Delgado is from Aragon, she is 27 years old and will participate in her third Paralympic Games in a few days. In her medal table, there are already two bronze medals from Rio 2016, twelve medals from the European Championships and twelve from the World Championships. In addition, she has four Olympic diplomas from Tokyo 2020. “I am very well, very motivated, with a lot of enthusiasm and with this experience of many years in the national team in competition”, says the swimmer in an interview with Europa Press. a few days before the start of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will be held from August 28 to September 8 and will bring together 4,400 disabled athletes from all over the world, including 139 Spaniards. María Delgado suffers from congenital toxoplasmosis, which prevents her from seeing completely in one eye and partially in the other. “For me in particular, the most difficult thing is when you get to the wall and you have to turn, do it correctly, perfectly and also a bit of spatial orientation,” he explains. He also says that in the backstroke style, one of the ways swimmers know they are reaching the wall are the flags hung five meters away in all the pools. “In my case, since I don’t see them, they have to warn me with a stick with a stopper on the end,” he says. Delgado learned to swim at the age of 3 and at 7 he joined an ONCE group in Zaragoza. “Little by little I got noticed, increasing the days of training, something completely natural, I grew, I improved, and around the age of 12 or 13 I started training with people without disabilities in a club in Zaragoza, in Corazonistas, and well, little by little until today, I compete for the Casablanca Stadium”, he says. In these Olympic Games, Delgado makes it clear that he wants to demonstrate his sporting level and be “as high as possible”. “I know that the first thing I have to do is focus on myself, give everything, on everything I can achieve and if something beautiful is going to happen, then it will come”, he emphasizes. PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPARATION He also emphasizes the importance of being prepared not only physically but mentally because “on the key day, if the head does not work in the same direction as the body, the body does not respond either”. Regarding the Olympic Games that ended on August 11 and in which Spain won 18 medals, Delgado makes a “very positive assessment and considers that “the effort of all the athletes was maximum”, although he believes that perhaps “there was a bit of luck missing” in some events where the athletes were on the verge of winning a medal. “It deserves to be recognized and admired, getting to the Olympic Games is incredibly difficult. And I think we should be proud and happy with the results. We always want more, obviously, that’s also positive, that’s good,” he emphasizes. “ECONOMIC SUPPORT HAS INCREASED.” On the other hand, he emphasizes that “in recent years, economic support has increased, with new projects from the Higher Sports Council” but considers that “we still have to wait, perhaps one more cycle, to see the results of these new economic investments that are being made.” Specifically, regarding the aid that Spanish Paralympic athletes receive, the swimmer recognizes that “it’s never enough” and “we can always support a little more”, but he adds that currently there is an upward trend “that must be valued”. “A few years ago, our colleagues did not have this support, so I think it is It is also important to see this positive side that we are fortunate to be able to receive quite significant support from both the Spanish Paralympic Committee and the Higher Sports Council,” he said. STUDYING AND TRAINING In addition to competing, during the year Delgado dedicates a large part of her time to studying. She has a degree in sports science and several masters in high performance, sports management and teacher training, and now wants to start her doctorate. “Training is essential in an athlete’s career,” he says. In his case, he says he was lucky because the excellent results he obtained allowed him to obtain scholarships and thus study and train without having to dedicate that time to work. “But it is clear that if at some point your result is a little lower and the scholarships, the aid decreases radically, then you have to look for alternatives and perhaps dedicate the time that you would prefer to dedicate to your rest or training, to work,” he says. Therefore, he believes that it is also important to continue supporting an athlete even when things are not going so well in competitions. “We obviously don’t do sport for money, we do it out of passion and because we love it, but it is clear that athletes also have to survive, pay for training and competition equipment, which in many cases is not cheap,” he said. emphasizes. Today, Delgado presented his candidacy to be part of the Athletes’ Council of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), whose renewal will take place in the elections at the Paralympic event in Paris. “It seems to me that it is important that athletes also have a voice in these bodies, that we can both say what we think is good and praise the way things are done well and transmit the doubts, concerns and problems that may arise,” he said. emphasizes.