Carrara marble steps. So white, so Aryan everything. Sixty four-meter, colossal, Mussolinian statues. Built in the 1930s for the Fascist Sports School. Ana Peleteiro (Ribeira, A Coruña; 28 years old) does not admit that supremacists appropriate beauty ideals. She claims it for everyone. “It’s the most beautiful stadium I’ve ever seen,” she says, sweeping her eyes over all the contours of the Stadi del Marmi, her imitation of Greco-Roman classicism, where she exercised before becoming European champion in Rome’s Olympic neighbor. There she speaks and vindicates herself the next day, her rage, her fury, her desire to be an artist, a leader, a captain, a voice for those who do not dare to speak. Her competitiveness. Your hope for a better world. The desire for glory, for gold in the Paris Games. “As I always say in English,” she says, “big things are coming” or the best is yet to come.
Ask. Before the Europeans, you reported that you suffered harassment on the networks, racist insults, like a large number of black athletes in Spain.
Answer. I always said that Spain was not a racist country, that it was a classist country, and the truth is that it was not. There is racism and it has been seen.
Q. What is there to do, then, keep quiet?
R. The vast majority, who are not like that, have to fight it with argument and education. What is they missing? And it bothers me that I have always, honestly, wanted to turn a deaf ear to this fascist current that is existing throughout Europe. Because the minority, even if it is a minority, makes noise and that is a reality. I, with the self-love that I have and the self-confidence that I have, even though they tell me that I am not Spanish, it goes in through one ear and out through the other, because I know it is a lie. But there are many people who don’t, and for all those who perhaps don’t have that courage or who perhaps can’t face something so big and so mentally difficult to face before a championship, I can do it because in that Now people are looking at us, so I’m going to do it. And it doesn’t scare me.
Q. Do you want to be a social reference, of commitment, too, not just sports?
R. Let’s see, I don’t consider myself a reference, although it is true that I am a bit the image of athletics in Spain and I have a speaker that no athlete has in Spain, and few athletes have. And as long as it’s for a good cause, that speaker should be used. I didn’t use it for myself, because those comments are something that doesn’t affect me. I know they are lies and I know they are made by people who, apart from a lot of free time, I wish they had that free time, have a lot of hate, a lot of anger. They are possibly very frustrated people in their lives, who do not have any kind of affection and love in their homes, which makes me feel more sorry for them than for the insult itself, but there are many other people who do not experience these insults in the same way, and I believe that having that speaker, I have to act.
Q. Do you want to be a leader?
R. I would love to be the captain of the team. It’s something I don’t think I’ve ever said. I see Gianmarco Tamberi, who is the captain of Italy, and I think he is not the oldest, and I don’t know why he is captain, but I would love to be the captain of Team Spain, although for now it is Esther Guerrero’s turn . And since I am not the captain, at least I give voice and claim things that I consider deserve to be claimed.
Q. Last Sunday, while you were jumping for gold in the Europeans, voting was taking place throughout Europe. The results show a great growth of far-right parties, with openly racist, supremacist, antisocial ideologies. Are you worried about those results?
R. Yes, they worry me, of course they worry me, and even more so having a daughter. Of course they worry me.
Q. With millions of people thinking like this, the future can be very tough…
R. I don’t think it’s harder. People are not going to let that become a reality. History has to serve to be aware of what that really means and not allow them to govern us. I hope and wish that there is a fight, that people vote and that they fight for human rights, above all.
Q. Curiously, it seems that this rage, that internal anger, is good for him, because it fuels his competitive fury…
R. Yes, 100%. A large part of the medal was thanks to all that. And I shouted, long live Spain!, more than in my entire life. And besides, there were many Spaniards cheering a lot and having a great time. I think some of them were half drunk and were there being super funny. I interacted a lot with them and really enjoyed the moment, to be honest.
Q. Did anger outweigh love for your daughter Lúa?
R. No, no, it’s not the same. My daughter is 100% my driving force, but it is true that, well, that anger… I always tell my federation, give me some shit, or something like that, before a championship, which is good for me. What happens is that now my relationship with the federation is in a good moment, and if they don’t give me the kick I have to look for a solution elsewhere.
Q. Why do you compete? What are you looking for, money, power, honors?
R. I don’t compete for money, I’ve never thought about money and that’s why I only jump in championships. The day you do it for money will be the day you stop doing it, because it’s not worth it. If it were to win millions and millions like you win in football, I’d say yes, but that’s not the case. I compete for titles and medals more than for records. Records matter little to me.
Q. What do medals give you that records cannot?
R. The glory, that moment of oxytocin that I only experienced on the day of my delivery, that is, making your skin crawl. In athletics you make money, but only if you have sports results, if you win medals. Without them it is not a rewarding sport.
Q. Are you also motivated to compete to prove who’s the boss? Do you feel like the boss on the jump?
R. No, no, not at all, not at all. I like to compete because I like to act, to do a Show for and by the public and for people to enjoy and to clap their hands and let them be told to stop and change pace. My frustrated profession is being a singer. The other day I was at the Taylor Swift concert and I was like, I want to be this, man, like, I want to be this.
Q. Taylor Swift?
R. When we are on a dance floor with 40 or 50 thousand people, I don’t sing, but I do something that everyone is watching. It’s a bit of that moment as an artist that I haven’t been able to enjoy professionally, but I have this thing that I experience from time to time and it’s wonderful.
Q. There is no artist who does not feel boss…
R. But I don’t consider myself the boss either, huh? Yes, I like that they have their eyes on me. I like it. And it’s not something that makes me nervous, quite the opposite.
Q. After this, don’t you feel nervous thinking about the Paris Games?
R. No, no, I don’t know nervousness. The nervousness that I know is my gasoline.
Q. Do you have a feeling that you are going to succeed?
R. No, in Games you can never be sure of anything. You have to go fight and go to war, to the Bastille. You can’t go calmly at any time because as soon as you calm down, someone comes along, makes a personal mark on you and you eat your snot. Nothing is guaranteed in this life. I have to go do my competition and not think about the others.
Q. But will he think about gold?
R. Clear.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
_
