Paula Ramírez: "I have passed all the levels of artistic swimming, one of the toughest sports"

Saint Cugat of the VallèsPaula Ramírez (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1996) has just retired after nearly 15 years in the pool. With six World Championship medals and an Olympic bronze, she is one of the benchmarks of European artistic swimming. A few weeks after winning a silver medal at the European Championships in Paris, she welcomes ARA at the CAR in Sant Cugat. She does so on the day the young athletes arriving to train here in the triathlon discipline arrive accompanied by their parents, who want to see the facilities and meet the coaches. "I organized it myself," she explains. After years of training at the CAR, she will now work there in the institutional department. Same setting, new life.

What will this new life be like for Paula?

— Well, for the moment it's as if it were a first time. I am very happy because I am at home... but doing a completely different role. I have this excitement of the first days at school. I am learning a lot. Every day in the morning I wake up eager to come to work. And I can come on foot, because I am from Sant Cugat. I am very lucky.

For the moment, the artistic swimming team led by Andrea Fuentes is still on vacation, but when they return to work... do you think she will be tempted to jump into the pool with them?

— I don't know how I will act when I see my lifelong teammates going to train. Who knows. I suppose that many days when I see them tired I will say: "How great! It's not my turn anymore" [smiles]. But when I see them leave to compete everything will stir inside me, because competing is one of the things I like the most.

Speaking of competing, how was it going to Paris for the Europeans, knowing that it would be the last time?

— I experienced it in a different way. Knowing it was the last time, I tried to live very much in the present. And in a fun way, because I am a person who makes a lot of jokes despite the tension of the competition. I always want to transform tension into good vibes. I wanted to enjoy it but also live it in a more mature way, with everything I have experienced in the past. I also wanted to help the young women who were experiencing their first big tournament.

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How is retirement faced? For many athletes, it is a traumatic moment.

— I have been working on it with the psychologist we have, Glòria Balaguer, because I was afraid to see what my reaction would be. It is something that happens for the first time and is at the same time the last time. And it leaves a mark on you. I like to have everything under control and it was hard to imagine that it would be the last time hugging my teammates, doing my hair in a bun, or jumping into the pool. Glòria told me that there is no need to force things. There is no need to try to control everything, to try to decide what you will think. It is better to see what you feel, accept it, and then be focused. Some moments were very emotional and also hard, like the last hug with Andrea Fuentes. I told her to make it a quick hug before jumping into the pool, because otherwise I could break down.

Let's talk about Andrea. She shared a team with her. A thousand adventures together. You competed together, you won, lost, and learned. Later she retired and became the head coach of the United States. And now, two years ago, she became your head coach. And the first successes have arrived.

— I have always connected with Andrea and her way of being, personality... and her aura.When I realized that she was coming here to coach us it was a joy. It was after the Paris Games. I was on vacation when we found out. She wrote us an email and it was a joy. I have lived with many coaches, from Anna Tarrés to Esther Jaumà or Mayu Fujiki. You learn things from all of them. And with all of them there are things you would like to be different. But the one I connect with the most is Andrea.

After years in which it seemed necessary to train in a more rigid way, Fuentes also wants the swimmers to have a good time and have some freedom in one of the sports where it is hardest to train, with hours and hours in the water.

— It has given me life, in the sense that, after some Olympic Games in which you end up quite mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted like the 2024 ones were, she arrives and lights the flame. Andrea has given me life and made me fall in love with my sport all over again. I am very fortunate, because I am leaving it completely in love with my sport, which I believe is not so easy.

Many athletes go through moments when you get fed up with sports, right?

— Yes. And it is normal. At times, the human Paula could suffer and the athlete Paula wanted to continue. There have been many moments when you are very physically tired and everything is difficult. And the years go by and you make plans for the future. At times there was a certain conflict between the human Paula who thought about the future and the mermaid Paula, as I like to call her, who wanted to stay in the pool. With Andrea, it has been like falling in love all over again. Everything has gone smoothly for me. One of the things that Andrea keeps very much in mind is that we are people above all else and she wants us to have a retirement as we would like. That the sport does not retire us cruelly. And she has given me that.

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How was Paula the mermaid born, as you call her?

— Because my mother signed us up for swimming, both my older sister and me, when we were months old. Because we are Mediterranean people and we like the water. When my sister was 9 years old she said she was fed up with swimming, so our mother took us to CN Kallípolis to do synchronized swimming, since it seemed more fun than doing laps. And a coach said that I, who must have been four years old, was doing it well. And look, my sister quit and I... until now.

From that pool to an Olympic podium.

— I have completed all the levels of one of the toughest sports, where you work the hardest. I still have yet to be a coach, who knows. I don't rule it out completely, since Andrea has made me fall in love with training again. Now, however, I need to get out of the pools for a while. I want to continue collaborating with them from the CAR, see if I can help other countries where this discipline is growing, help with the choreographies, which I love. Transmit enthusiasm to the kids who are starting out.

The path has not been easy. She debuted when the first great names of synchronized swimming like Gemma Mengual were retiring, and she had to experience hard years like when Spain did not qualify for the Rio Games.

— I have lived through it all. I took the blow of not qualifying for the Games. Later, we were indeed at the Tokyo ones, strange Games due to the pandemic and with a seventh place that we could have improved. And, finally, the podium in Paris. I have been through the highs, the lows, the middle... I have done the duet and I have been kicked out of the duet. I have experienced everything, but I always turn things around and try to be positive. I have learned from the hard times.

With everything you have experienced, how do you remember the moment you see that you have an Olympic medal?

— The most exciting moment was when we finished our routine, still without knowing the result. But we knew we had done well. A routine that we had fought hard for and that was difficult for us. And we did it. And I already cried inside the water. This is a lesson: you may win a medal or not, but if you give your all, you must walk with your head held high. Now, I also admit to you that with everything we had suffered preparing for the Games... seeing that we had a medal was a liberation. With Txell Mas, since we were the veterans, we looked at each other thinking: "My goodness, with everything we have lived through, we have achieved it."

In this European championship the novelty has been the return of the Russians, who won the gold with a routine that was quite obviously a copy of yours.

— It is an honor for us that Russia is watching us. This was impossible decades ago and now they are watching us. It was incredible: they spent all the training sessions watching us. Are they copying us? It looks a bit ugly, but it is also a source of pride.

Looking ahead to the 2028 Games, can Spain aspire to gold?

— You see Andrea, don't you? She is a warrior. And if she paints her face to go to war, anything can happen. Are the Russians coming back? Well, stand up to them. It is clear that it is possible to win, this team is magnificent. I would like to accompany them as a CAR worker or as part of the technical staff. Artistic swimming is at a magnificent level, with girls who have a great level and finally the first boys, who do it very well. And Andrea Fuentes has an outward projection that makes her a benchmark, a model of inspiration that connects with people. People are connecting with this fun team with personality.