Article by Luminița Paul – Published on Sunday, December 14, 2025, 4:35 p.m. / Updated on Sunday, December 14, 2025, 4:36 p.m.
Mireia Belmonte (35), Spain's most valuable swimmer in history, Olympic (2016) and World (2017) 200m butterfly champion, described her ordeal of injuries and uninspired decisions over the years: “I didn't stop in time.”
She has not officially retired from swimming, but the results of the last years and the physical problems put a big question mark over the business card of the Iberian Mireia Belmonte. The most important female swimmer in the history of her country turned 35 in November and continues to train for four hours daily “at a swimming pool in Badalona, close to the house“.
This year he participated in the National Championships, hosted by Palma, in three events, but he did not manage to make the scale to be able to go to World Championships in Singapore.
However, her performances are pure history for Spain: Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and world gold in Budapest 2017both in the 200 m butterfly. Other two silver medals and one bronze medal at the Olympic Games, 4 silver medals and one bronze medal at the WC in the Olympic pool. Three European titlesshe participating in freestyle, butterfly and mixed events.
In a moment of coolness, Belmonte revisited her career in a deep and human interview for La Vanguardia. At the age of 13, he left home to train as a boarding school at the High Performance Center in Sant Cugat.
Mireia Belmonte: “If I stand for a long time, it hurts even worse”
“I missed my parents“, she said, referring to her mother, Paqui, and father, Jose, both originally from Andalucia but who moved to Catalunya, where Mireia was born. “They were close though, half an hour away. I think that being there, as an intern at Sant Cugat, formed me. It helped me to be more responsible, to take care of my sleep, my diet, to mature faster“, she weighed.
But he started swimming following a medical recommendation: he was born with scoliosis in the lumbar area. “In my case, the deviation was important and then affected me throughout my career, the pains are present. If I exercise or stand for a long time, it hurts even worse. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't swum“, revealed Mireia.
The year 2025 was one of the comeback, after a break caused by injuries. After the competition in Palma he again felt the need for a period of rest. Now he trains on his own, with a lot of attention to his shoulders, both affected by problems.
“Right worse than left, supraspinatus tendon is torn, in addition to bursitis and tendinitis“, she explains and is asked how to get here. “I would like to know. After so many years of mileage, the body wears out. It breaks, falls apart“, Belmonte describes the situation. Surgery is the best option, but for now he rules it out because “I would lose a lot of strength and mobility.”
Mireia Belmonte: “It's not that easy to stop”
If he could start over as a child he would change a lot of things, does he think he made mistakes? “I don't know if there were mistakes, but in the end that's what you have to do. When you want to reach the highest level, you give everything every day. Maybe I sinned by wanting to go on and on and on and not stop in time. If I were to look back, maybe at some point I would have stopped to continue in better muscular condition. I don't know, I think once you're launched, it's not that easy to stop,” she elaborated for the same source.
A bright moment is when he won the Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro. “It was a feeling of fullness. That evening I said to Fred: «Next year we have to win at the World Championships», and he replied: «You just won the Olympic title, enjoy»“, he recalled, mentioning the French coach Fred Vergnoux, who recently worked with Summer McIntosh, quadruple world champion this year in Singapore.
As for the future and the connection to swimming, it remains present. “If one day I have a son or daughter, the first thing I would do would be to teach him/her to swim, but for safety reasons: to know how to handle water“, assures Mireia Belmonte.
“And if he then wants to continue swimming and what happened to me happens, of course I will support him/her: this was a path of growth. The key is to know what the child wants, both physically and mentally: if he does not feel good doing a sport, maybe he chose the wrong sport or is not made for it. The child must be listened to,” assured Belmonte, who in the past had a long-term relationship with the kayaker Javier Hernanz and the singer Angel Chapel.
