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Biography of Mireia Belmonte García, a Spanish swimmer who is an Olympic champion, world champion and European champion.
Merits of this Spanish swimmer
She started competing internationally when she was 17 years old. Ten years later, she had won 22 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 7 bronze medals.
In total, she won 44 medals participating in 3 Olympic Games, 6 World Championships and 8 European Championships.
Mireia Belmonte competes in the style, butterfly and free categories.
It has been said that she is the best swimmer in history.
To her excellent physical qualities she has added extraordinary will power and mental development.
Beginning of Mireia Belmonte’s career
All this, reinforced by having always had family support. In addition, she had excellent coaches: Jordi Murio, Carles Subirana, Michael Piper, Fred Vernoux.
She currently belongs to the “UCAM Club Natación Fuensanta“, a club attached to the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia.
At this university she studies a Degree in Advertising and Public Relations.
The first years of this extraordinary swimmer
Mireia Belmonte García was born in Badalona on November 10, 1990. Her father, José Belmonte, is originally from a town in Granada.
Her mother, Francisca García, is a native of a town in Jaén.
When Mireia was 4 years old, the doctor recommended that the girl practice swimming, because she had scoliosis.
For this reason, her parents enrolled her in the “Badalona Swimming Club”. Over time, the great Mireia Belmonte’s sports career began there.
In 2003, her swimming potentials were evident. She obtained a scholarship from the Catalan Swimming Federation for the “High Performance Center of San Cugat del Vallés“.
Swimming coaches of Mireia Belmonte
The prestigious coach Jordi Murio was in charge of training her and helping her to give the best of herself.
Before long, she was signed by the “Club Natació L’Hospitalet“, in which she remained for 6 years. Later, Mireia Belmonte was signed by the “Sabadell Swimming Club” for the 2007-2008 season.
After Jordi Murio, Mireia Belmonte’s coach was Carles Subirana.
In 2009, she went on to train at the “Sabadell Swimming Club”. She was under the command of Michael Piper; and later she trained with Fred Vernoux.
Participations in competitive swimming
The full sports dedication of this young Spanish swimmer is evident in the fact that in three years she participated, with excellent results, in seven high-level international competitions:
- In 2006, she was proclaimed Junior World Champion in 400 m freestyle and 400 m styles. Was 16 years old.
- She was also the Junior European Champion in 200 m freestyle and 400 m styles.
- In 2007, she reached 2nd place in 400 m styles in the European Short Pool Swimming Championship.
- On March 21, 2008, in the European Swimming Championship, she won the women’s 200 m individual final. In addition, she won the bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly.
- On April 9, 2008 at the World Short Pool Championship, she achieved the bronze medal in 400 m styles.
- On August 9, 2008, she became an Olympic swimmer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She competed in the 200 m breaststroke, 200 m and 400 m styles events. She was also part of the 4×100 style relay from Spain. She set the record for Spain in 400 m styles. However, she could only be ranked 14th, the same position she achieved in all 200 m styles.
- On December 14, 2008, she broke the world record for 400 m short pool styles. And she hung the gold medal at the Rijeka (Croatia) European Short Pool Championships.
At 18 years old, Mireia had 10 years of hard training and led by excellent coaches.
The years of her great swimming triumphs
She was ready for another 10 years of great triumphs. that placed her in the elite of world swimming.
From 2010 to 2013, the successes achieved for her and for Spanish swimming were resounding and numerous:
- December 2010: Introduced to the Dubai Short Pool World Cup. She won three golds: 200 m butterfly, 200 m styles and 400 m styles and one silver in the 800 m freestyle.
- April 2011: in the XII Spanish Championship, she achieved the best world mark of the year in 400 m styles and a new record for Spain, as well as another record for Spain in the 200 m butterfly.
- December 2011: at the Eindhoven Open in the Netherlands, she won the 800 m freestyle event, beating the record for Spain.
- March 2012: at the British Open in London, she competed in the swimming events: 400 m freestyle, 800 m freestyle, 200 m butterfly, 200 m styles, 400 m styles and in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay.
- In August 2012, at the London Olympics, she achieved silver in the 200 m butterfly and silver medal in the 800 m freestyle. She became the best Spanish Olympic swimmer, as she had been the only one to win two Olympic medals and in the same Games.
Mireia sports activities from 2013
At the beginning of 2013, after four months of inactivity, she announced her transfer to the “Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia”.
In this prestigious university center she combined her studies in “Business Administration and Management” with sports activities in the “Fuensanta UCAM” club.
But she kept training at the “Sabadell Swimming Club” in Barcelona.
Between July 27 and August 4, 2013, the “Absolute Swimming World Championship” was held in Barcelona.
Mireia Belmonte competed as a host and participated in six events during the eight days of the championship. She won 2 silver and 1 bronze medals:
– She won a silver medal in the 200 m butterfly.
– Obtained silver medal in the 400 m styles.
– Conquered a bronze medal in the 200 m style event.
On August 5, she was honored in her native Badalona, and acclaimed by hundreds of fans and decorated by the Mayor of the city.
On December 12, 2013, at the “European Short Pool Swimming Championship” (25 meters) held in Herning (Denmark), Mireia won the gold medal in the 200 m butterfly test, breaking the continental record.
The next day, she won a new gold medal in the 800 m freestyle event. In that final, she defeated local hero Lotte Friis.
In December 2014, in the “World Short Swimming Pool Championship” held in Doha (Qatar), she obtained a gold medal in 200 m butterfly and another gold medal in 400 meters styles.
In addition, she achieved separate world records with substantial discounts of the brands. She was the first swimmer in the world to drop below 2 minutes in the 200 m butterfly.
A shoulder injury forced her to go several months without competing. Due to that, Mireia was unable to participate in the 2015 World Swimming Championships played in Russia.
On August 10, 2016, she participated in the “Rio 2016 Olympic Games”. She achieved a historic victory: the gold medal in 200 m butterfly and the bronze medal in 400m styles.
Mireia Belmonte first Spanish Olympic champion in swimming
With this result, Mireia Belmonte became the first Spanish woman to be proclaimed Olympic champion in swimming.
Along with Teresa Perales, Mireia Belmonte is one of the most notable Spanish athletes in swimming.
In the “XVII World Swimming Championship in Budapest“, she participated in six events in the eight days of the championship.
She was proclaimed for the first time in her career, world champion in 200 m butterfly.
This gold medal was added to the ones she had already won in this category, in 2013 (in Denmark), in 2014 (in Qatar) and in 2016 (at the Rio Olympics).
Her spectacular triumph was crowned with two silver medals in the 1,500 m freestyle and 400 m style events. At the end of this Budapest championship, she went home with three metals.
On August 12, 2017, in the “Short Pool World Cup”, held in Eindhoven (Netherlands), she broke the world record for short pool in 400 m styles.
On this glorious occasion, Mireia Belmonte snatched the universal record of 4: 19.46 that her great rival, Katinka Hosszu, had since 2015.
Considering this brilliant record since she debuted in Beijing at the age of 17, it is not surprising that Mireia Belmonte has received numerous distinctions and decorations at the regional and national level.
All of these honors are more than deserved.
In the 20th century, there have been numerous Spanish women who began to make headlines in the sports world. Among them: Edurne Pasabán (mountaineer), Almudena Cid (gymnastics), Carolina Marín (badminton) and Teresa Perales (Paralympic swimming).
Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation.