Anna Godoy: "Before, the priority was training, and now you see young people thinking about what photo they will post on social media"

BarcelonaAnna Godoy (Barcelona, ​​​​1992) was born in the midst of an Olympic hangover when her father was starting to make a name for himself in a sport that few Catalans knew about at the time: triathlon. Having become the best Catalan triathlete of all time, Godoy has participated in two Olympic Games and has just returned home, signing for the club where she learned to swim, CN ​​Barcelona. Anna receives the ARA at the CNB facilities on a day when, in theory, she rests. But she has already swum for thirty minutes and is ready to go back to the gym.

How has this return home gone?

— The truth is that I am extremely grateful that they wanted me to be here again. It all started here and CN Barcelona had been asking me to come back home for some time. After almost ten years competing with a club from Lugo that believed in me when I was young, it is special to be able to defend CNB again. I always thought that if I came back it would be to help. And so it will be. My life is closely linked to this club, here I learned to swim in the old pool, the one that is now under construction. Then I went to the pool of the globe, which no longer exists, then the new fifty-meter pool, now the new 25-meter pool... You walk down the hall and the memories come back to you. The first training sessions, you as a child playing hide-and-seek with your friends, the wall with the photos of the club's Olympians without imagining that I would be an Olympian... Now I compete with the club that I love. It's beautiful.

You started here as a swimmer, although your father was already a triathlon legend, winning Spanish championships. How did you decide to change sports?

— I was a swimmer and I was on the podium at the Spanish and Catalan championships... I did well. But after many years a change was necessary. Being a swimmer is very hard, eh? You get up at six to swim for hours, and in the afternoon more hours in the pool... Curiously, when I was little I didn't even want to look at the bicycle, but when I told my dad that I was thinking of making the change, the first thing he did was offer me advice on pedalling. Triathlon is a sacrifice, because you swim, run, ride a bike... At that time it was more fun to make the change.

He is in a sweet moment of his career, with experience but with a lot of future.

— Yes, it is true that I have been competing in the world of triathlon for several years, but last year was my best sporting year. And I think I still have a few more years left in which I can continue to improve.

Are you planning to host the 2028 Games in Los Angeles?

— Right now I would say that I don't think much about it. When people ask me, I do think about it. I'm an athlete, I want to go. But I focus on improving every day. In triathlon, we had world and European championships every year, so you live day to day.

He changed coaches just over a year ago. The results came.

— Yes, last year I started working with Joel Filliol. I had been working with Álvaro Rancé for seven years, and I improved and learned a lot. But I needed a change. Sometimes it is hard to accept that you are doing well, but if you make a change you can still be better. Changing clubs does not affect me that much in terms of dynamics, beyond wearing the CNB logo on my chest, which is nice, but changing coaches did make everything different. I owe a lot to Álvaro, he has made me a better triathlete. But I wanted to take a risk because it was an Olympic year, in which I had to be very focused and at that time I had not yet qualified.

For a sport that is three sports at once, how has the way of working changed?

— I have improved several things. After many years of experience, you already know what you are good at and what needs to be improved. For example, I am now taller in swimming, which is where I stand out the most, since I was a swimmer. Before, I focused more on running and cycling, but now I am working hard in the pool again. Joel is one of the best trainers in the world, he has made me improve in details. And in dynamics, such as spending time in Girona training with other triathletes. In the end, what changes is the method, things that may seem smaller from the outside, but that allow you to make a leap in quality.

2024 has been a great year, it has worked.

— Yes, I started with a European Cup where I came fourth, which was very commendable, since there were a very high level of participants. There I said to myself: "Wow, I think I'm doing very well." You can train as much as you want, but until you compete you don't see how you are. And I saw myself well. Then I came sixth in the first world competition in Yokohama, one of the best results ever achieved by a Spanish woman. And then I was selected for the Games. I came sixteenth in the World Championships and seventeenth in Paris. A dream year.

What memories do you have of the Olympics? There was a lot of talk about the pollution in the Sena, with your test.

— It was good for me to have the experience of Tokyo, I knew I had to focus on being concentrated. I understand that everyone asked us about the dirty water, but I had to focus on the event. It is true that it would have helped to be able to train in the Seine the days before and that many other things could have been done better, but the memory I have is that they were brutal Games. Competing in the centre of Paris, with the streets full of people, was very nice.

She had made her debut at the Games in the middle of a pandemic, without people. She deserved a Games like those in Paris, didn't she?

— We all deserved it. Tokyo was strange, empty, with the fear of testing positive, the controls, the uncertainty. Paris, however, was a great party. Once I qualified, I called my people to say that they could now buy tickets to go to Paris. There were so many people that I couldn't see them during the race, but I knew they were there and that made me happy. Also, on the last lap, I was in a position where nobody would catch me, but I couldn't catch the person in front of me either. So I was able to enjoy it. I was running with a big, euphoric laugh, I think people were surprised, because instead of grimacing in suffering, I was happy, waving.

Now, with your career, how do you see the current state of triathlon? It keeps gaining new followers, but professionally it needs to be improved?

— It is progressing as it should, although there are always things we can improve. For example, in our Paris race there was a mistake, as many athletes jumped into the river before, without anything happening. Now they have modified the way of exiting by learning from the mistake. The tendency to have many short distance races, which distort the competition a little, could be improved, and in terms of the calendar, you often have World Cup races on the same weekend on two different continents. Sometimes you have a race in Australia and one in Brazil in three days, but then you spend two months without competing.

You have never stopped studying, has it been easy to combine the two?

— I first did advertising and public relations at Blanquerna and it was hard for me to combine it, so I went to the UOC. And now I'm doing a master's degree in sports management. I'm curious, I like many different things and I've always been clear that I'll finish my degree one day. And it's necessary to be trained. I always tell young athletes that they shouldn't stop studying. I finished my degree in six years, at my own pace, but studying was good for me to disconnect from competition. Sometimes I see athletes who only think about brands, about competing, as if it were everything. And I don't agree with that.

Has being the daughter of Paco, the pioneer of triathlon here, and having the figure of her brother Francisco, a great triathlete, nearby, helped you in this vision?

— Yes, I have always been clear that the important thing is to study. At home they have always instilled this in me.

How do you deal with the fact that so many people admire you?

— This weekend we competed in the Spanish League, for example, with duathlon events. And it was emotional to see so many young girls eager to learn. I felt that they were listening to me, that they were looking at me thinking that if I, having left the club, have made it to the Games, they can too. Before I met them, but I didn't think much about it, now that I'm back in the CNB I realise that I can be a good example for them.

What do you advise them?

— Nowadays, with social media, you receive a lot of input from outside. We athletes have changed. Before, the priority was training, and now you see young people who think first about the photo they want to post on social media. If you are at the Games, put down your phone and live the moment! I think it is important to work psychologically to be able to be well, to know how to enjoy the good things. Focus on receiving positive input, valuing what happens to you. You have to value the moment when you have dinner with your teammates at a training camp, the trips... what you experience.

How about your usual laugh in Paris?

— Correct. I am competitive, if necessary, I suffer. But I will always remember those last few metres in Paris.