On a normal day, one of the first things I do when leaving my flat is to pick up a copy of Diario Sport, a daily newspaper dedicated to my beloved FC Barcelona. I have a vast stack of these gathering dust in my room as I write this post- one for almost every day of the past five months, to be exact. These are wonderfully accessible, cheap and interesting, as they allow me the chance to practice reading in my target language (a crucial practice I neglect back home) about something I'm thoroughly interested in, and also grant me a viewpoint into the more forgotten areas of Spanish sport.
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These dailies have also taught me a peculiar word: crack, which is used to describe someone as a 'great person, a legend'. It's often used to eulogise about Messi after his latest wonder-goal, but other sports like tennis, athletics, swimming, handball, basketball and padel are also incredibly popular. To that end, I present a list of the Top 6 Spanish sportsmen and women you probably haven't heard of. Que la disfruteis...
1. Paco Alcacer- Football
It's not been easy of late for La Seleccion. In 2014, the defending champions crashed out of the World Cup in Brazil at the first round, a humiliating fall from grace for a team that had made history by winning the previous three international tournaments they had played in- two European Championships either side of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. To add insult to injury, the core of that phenomenal side - midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso and record goalscorer David Villa- retired from international football. Two years later, and La Roja are yet to convince going into the European Championships in France this summer. The biggest issue is at centre-forward- who will lead the line? Who will score the goals? Who could pick up the mantle of the great Raul Gonzalez and be the figurehead of the national side for the next decade?
Step forward, Francisco 'Paco' Alcacer. The Valencia striker continues to quietly go about his business in Spain's third largest city and is a crucial part of Gary Neville's footballing revolution at Los Che. Alcacer has spent his entire professional career at his hometown club, besides a loan spell at Getafe, having been on the books since he was eight. His goal-scoring skills are impressive, with nearly 50 strikes recorded since he made his first team debut. Moreover, this should give him the edge over Spain's other first choice 9's. Chelsea's Diego Costa appears more interested in throwing punches than scoring goals, whilst Alvaro Morata, of Italian giants Juventus, has scored just 5 all season. If Alcacer, 22, continues to develop at this steady pace, coach Vicente Del Bosque's problem position could soon be solved.
2. Mario Mola- Triathlon
This guy can run 5 kilometres in 14 minutes. On it's own, that's insanely fast: try running one lap of a 400 metre track in 68 seconds. Tough right? Now imagine doing it at that pace at least, for another eleven laps. Brutal. When you factor in what takes place before that, the feats that elite triathletes accomplish become almost superhuman. For Mario Mola, this is just the business end of his event. In a WTS (World Triathlon Series) event, he must first swim 1500 metres in freezing cold, open water. This often turns into a melee, with hundreds of athletes jostling for position, arms and legs flailing everywhere. Survive that without getting dunked, it's onto the bike to cycle 40 kilometres at breakneck speed. Crash, or suffer even the slightest mechanical hitch at this point, and its game over. Once this leg of the race finishes, it's time to run 10 kilometres. This often takes elite triathletes approximately 30 minutes to complete. That equates to a pace of 4 minutes and 50 seconds per mile. A 30 minute 10K run, off the back of almost an hour and a half of flat out racing, on legs already saturated with lactic acid from their workload on the bike. There's a reason why nobody ever says 'let's go and play triathlon.'
Mola, 26, has been doing these races for over 10 years. Needless to say, he's bloody good at them. His breakthrough performances came in the 2013 and 2014 World Triathlon Series, where he finished second overall , both times behind fellow Spaniard and 5 time World Champion Javier Gomez- himself a 2012 Olympic silver medallist. I'd say it's a shame that an athlete as dedicated and talented as Mola is forced to live in the shadow of a legend of the sport, but the truth is Mola is showing that he has it in him to carry his countryman's mantle, having beaten Gomez on numerous occasions, most notably during the London race in 2014 and in Chicago last September. The popularity of Triathlon is increasing dramatically in Spain, and with good reason. Inspired by the success of Gomez, it's not inconceivable that Mola, who hails from Palma de Mallorca, could well become the very best at his sport very soon. With the Olympics heading to Rio this summer, I'll naturally be supporting the brilliant Alistair and Jonny Brownlee in the triathlon, but keep an eye out for Mola: he will be an enormous threat.
3. Garbine Muguruza- Tennis
As a casual follower of tennis, it saddens me greatly to see the fall from grace of Rafael Nadal. This is a player whose explosive style and battling performances against the likes of Federer, Djokovic and Murray captured the hearts and imagination people the world over, to say nothing of the cult status the Spaniard enjoys in his home country. But alas, chronic knee injuries have taken their toll on the two-time Wimbledon king, and the people of Spain are now looking for a new champion to get behind. In the 22 year old Basque, Garbine Muguruza, they may just have found their new heroine. Born to a Spanish father and Venezuelan mother, she first began to play tennis aged 3, and her subsequent rise to the pinnacle of the Women's game has been nothing short of spectacular.
Muguruza exploded onto the world stage with her incredible performances at Wimbledon last year, where she made it all the way to the final, before losing agonisingly to Serena Williams. Taking the greatest woman ever to pick up a racket into a deciding set is nothing to be sniffed at. Having already reached her first major final and claimed the scalps of some of the biggest names in the women's game, it would appear that the only way is up- she is currently ranked 5th in the world, having previously been as high as 3rd. In the words of former women's Wimbledon champion Marion Bartolli, 'She's not waiting for it to happen for her- she's going for it, and that's how you win the biggest slams.' High praise indeed.
4. Pau Gasol- Basketball
Six-time NBA All-star and double Olympic Silver medallist Gasol was born in Barcelona, and joined FC Barcelona Basquet when he was 16. After helping the junior team to a hugely successful 1998 season, he was promoted to the senior team. However, the following season saw him amass only 25 minutes of playing time in the ACB league that year. The following season followed a similar pattern. However the next year saw Gasol voted National MVP, after helping Barcelona to the Spanish National Cup and averaging 12.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per 25 minutes per game. That's to say he was superb. Following a successful year for both team and player, Gasol entered the NBA draft in 2001, eventually ending up at the Memphis Grizzles.
Since moving to the States, Gasol has continued to clock up MVP performances, helping his various teams across the pond to win trophy after trophy. He has also helped the Spanish national side perform well in various international competitions, such as the 2006 FIBA World Championship and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. From 2008-2014 he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, arguably the most famous basketball team in the world. As of today, Gasol has plied his trade for the Chicago Bulls from 2014. Players on the books at the Bulls have won the NBA's MVP award six times- three of those going to some bloke by the name of Michael Jordan. He must have been alright...
Although it hasn't been entirely plain sailing for Gasol in Chicago, a resurgence from the team over the last couple of seasons breeds optimism, with the arrival of the Catalan in 2014 spearheading this fresh approach. Not only is Gasol a superbly gifted athlete (he stands seven foot tall and possesses one of the biggest leaps in the sport) but he is also a highly intelligent individual who speaks five languages, having taught himself French and Italian to go with Catalan, Spanish and English. He would often speak in Spanish with team mate Kobe Bryant during games, to prevent opponents from knowing their planned moves. Furthermore, the Basketball court wasn't always his first calling- he originally wanted to be a doctor, following in his fathers' footsteps, and originally played rugby. His two younger brothers, Marc and Adria, are also professionals, on the books at the Grizzlies and UCLA respectively.
5. Jesus España- Athletics
No list of my top sportsmen would be complete without a distance runner, and this guy's worth including on his name alone. Born in Valdemoro, a small Community of Madrid, middle-distance runner Espana first represented his country in the 2001 World Cross Country Championships, where he finished 11th. The following year he took the World Indoor Bronze medal in the 3000 metres. After nearly 20 years of competing for Spain at the elite level of world athletics, his role of honour is substantial: he has been to an Olympic games (Beijing 2008), finishing 14th in the 5000 metres final, against a field that included the legendary Kenenisa Bekele, who won the race in an Olympic record, and would also go on to win the 10,000 metres later in the games. Two years prior, España won his first major international title at the European Championships in the 5000 metres, overtaking the leader of the race in the last 20 metres. The name of the athlete he overtook? Mo Farah, who has since won every European, World and Olympic distance medal going. As of 2016, España remains the last man to beat Farah in a European final. Impressive stuff.
After nearly 20 years of competing at the top level of world athletics, España has had to closely monitor and adapt his training programme in order to find new ways to improve, and also to manage the workload on his body as the years creep by. The impressive results that he has obtained throughout his career are testament to this constant tinkering- as of today, his personal bests for the 3000 and 5000 (his preferred distances) stand at 7 minutes 38 seconds and 13 minutes 10 respectively. The former was set in 2006, the latter 2009- further emphasising the importance of training smarter, rather than simply adding more and more volume and intensity. As a keen distance runner myself, this philosophy is something that rings true to me. The word is balance. España, for me, is the ultimate example of continually assessing your performance, being honest with yourself and making the necessary changes in order to continually improve. This is also applicable to any area, not just sport, and for that reason alone he is worth including. That, and because his name means Jesus Spain.
6. Vernonica Boquete- Football
This 28 year old striker plays her club football for Bayern Munich in Germany, has captained her national side at the 2015 World Cup and is considered her country's go-to player, a Spanish Ladies Lionel Messi, if you will. Prior to gaining international attention in 2011, after a successful few seasons in America, she previously turned out for RCD Espanyol (city rivals of Barcelona) and Praninsa Zaragoza, and was the top scorer in the 2010-11 Superliga Femenina with an impressive 39 goals. During her time at Espanyol she also won two international caps for Spain.
After a various highly successful and prolific spells at clubs throughout the world (she played for Russian outfit Energiya Voronezh in the 2011 Champions League, and in the Swedish Dmallsvenskan for Tyreso in 2012), and some more stateside adventures with Portland Thorns, the jet-setting Boquete found herself on the books at FFC Frankfurt, who had finished runners-up in the 2014 Bundesliga. She would go on to help the team to the 2015 Champions League at the end of the season, following which her services were secured by German football giants Bayern.
Though her club and international careers have proven highly successful, Boquete has played a pivotal role in promoting Women's football in Spain. She was the first Spanish female footballer to release an autobiography, and started a website called change.org, which encouraged video game developers Electronic Arts to include Women footballers in their Fifa video game series, a campaign which has subsequently proven to be a resounding success. With women's sport finally starting to get the recognition it deserves, Boquete has lead the women's football revolution in Spain from the front in more ways than one.
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This year, I've been highly fortunate to have shared both a running track and gym with a group of sprinters from the Spanish Athletics Federation, one of whom is currently the second fastest 200 metre runner in the country. Being able to see such dedicated semi-elites train up close has been a privilege, and no little inspiration for me as an amateur athlete. With sport playing such a key role in Spanish identity, and with both the Olympic Games and European Football Championships just around the corner this summer, I will be following the performances of the athletes mentioned above with interest. Don't be surprised to hear their names popping up more and more regularly should they find success this summer. You heard it here first.
'When the outside world wants to bring you down, count on what's inside to keep you up.'
Lionel Messi
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