Andrea Fuentes: "I wanted to train differently and I told them that if I didn't get results I would become a hairdresser."

BarcelonaThe artistic swimming team's training session at the CAR in Sant Cugat has ended and Iris Tió, world champion, He stays in the pool a little longer, doing his exercise to the rhythm of theHymn to love sung by Céline Dion. Her teammates, already heading to the showers, know the song by heart and sing it amidst jokes. After hours in the pool giving it their all, a great atmosphere reigns in the group, and it's contagious. Working with Andrea Fuentes (Valls, 1983) as head coach is like that. With four Olympic medals as a swimmer, Fuentes has lived a thousand lives, always ready to listen and learn. To know how she wants to live and how she wants to train, creating positive work environments. Now she's thinking about the 2028 Games while coaching the Spanish team after her American adventure, where she won a silver medal. An adventure that left its mark on her.

After shining as a swimmer, you have your first experience as a coach in the United States, where you hadn't won in years. And when you arrive, you find swimmers who tell you they don't want to be Olympians, that they prefer to be happy. How did you deal with that?

— People say that young people today don't want to work. And maybe it's just that they're smarter. They don't want to waste so much time. They say, "Why do I have to work 12 hours for a job I can do in six?" Sometimes we work by the hour when we could work by goals. We're talking about girls who trained in the morning, studied in the afternoon, and worked to pay for everything. And if the training sessions were too long, they felt like they couldn't live. And they told me they couldn't keep up that pace, that it was too hard. I said, okay, so what do we do? What's the goal? And they said they wanted to be happy. Perfect. Understood, but we have to do something more, right? After a seven-hour meeting, we managed to define our mission as growing together as a team. I removed all the Olympic flags from the pool because it wasn't about results anymore; we didn't care about the results. We wanted to grow. And from that moment on, I completely changed the training sessions. We came with a list of goals. If we finished by two, even better. If we finished at three... too bad for you. It was key, to change. And in the end, five years later, we won an Olympic medal. I mean... it was a miracle [smiles].

You were brave, because the US federation demanded results from you. And suddenly you were saying that growth was more important than winning...

— In the first meetings, I would tell them my plan to win, and then suddenly I'd say I wanted to do it differently. I told them that if I didn't get results, I'd become a hairdresser. If I couldn't be a coach based on my principles, then I wasn't cut out for it. I decided to understand each swimmer, to connect with her. It wasn't easy. I asked the Federation for patience, and luckily they listened to me.

Is a key point in all of this understanding the new generations?

— That's right. Because now all teachers, parents, and coaches are facing a very abrupt generational shift. We're living in a time when things are changing very quickly. And we can't expect younger people to do the same things we did, because everything has changed. The way to capture their attention has also changed drastically. The way they want to feel respected has also changed. What I did was study a lot, not only because of the cultural shift in the United States. I was also starting out as a coach, and it was necessary to ground all my ideals in how I would coach. And I was very clear that there were four core values. I initially made a list of 30, but I narrowed it down to four.

Which ones were chosen?

— The first thing is authenticity. Because when you're truly yourself, you must first know yourself deeply, then respect yourself, and then defend that. If you have a quality, why hide it? Why not maximize it? The second fundamental principle is performance. In other words, we don't just want to be ourselves and that's it; we need to work to reach our full potential. The third is that it's a team sport. The sense of unity needs to be genuine. And the last is that it's essential to enjoy the process. I don't just want to work, improve, and win. I also want it to be a positive experience. Training sessions need to be engaging to attract young people.

You created some challenges that had to be done every Friday, right?

— Yes. They didn't know what it would be like, but every Friday brought a surprise, a challenge they had to overcome together as a team, one that would force them to cooperate instead of compete. For the first challenge, they received a letter from the CIA, which I wrote, telling them their mission was to retrieve a package from a diving platform and carry it to the other side of the pool without touching any solid surfaces or getting the package wet. They didn't complete the first challenges until three weeks later... and they could only do them on Fridays. Sometimes the challenges were physically demanding, other times they required strategic thinking, but all of them involved a great deal of internal coordination, and through this process, they learned to know each other very well. New leadership styles and bonds of camaraderie emerged.

A miracle or your method of working, which you explain in the book Mindset, purpose, passion (Planet). How did the idea come about?

— It originated from a newspaper interview The Country. The people at Planeta read it and called me. I didn't understand it, because I'm not a writer, but they told me I had a lot of excellent concepts and that nothing should be changed. And it's true, in the end they hardly changed anything; they were very respectful of what I wanted to say, the ideas, my pace... I discovered that I had everything ready to be explained, and I wrote it in just a few months, from September to November. The method I'm talking about is useful for anyone who wants to improve in any field and go a little further than where they are now. And on top of that, enjoy the process, not just go through the motions. The truth is, I had a lot to say.

To find your method, you went to visit large companies in Silicon Valley.

— My neighbor worked at Apple, and he worked in Silicon Valley, so I went to their headquarters... It was like walking into NASA. I went to Google's headquarters to talk to employees and managers, to learn about leadership. And also to overcome fear. For example, there, employees can give feedback anonymously about their bosses. And that way, those in charge can improve. I did it, and at first I was stunned because people were so honest, and I thought, "Wow... I still have so much to learn, don't I?" In the end, we were just telling each other everything straight to our faces. That's how you create a culture of total transparency, but also of sufficient humility combined with a strong desire to improve.

You also mention Pep Guardiola and Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors.

— They helped me because I was always told that if you were good at competing, you wouldn't be a good coach because things would just come naturally to you... And I thought, "What the hell, 'just come naturally'? I earned it!" So finding great athletes who were also great coaches helped me. Guardiola says that each person needs to be treated differently; that is, maybe you're more emotional as a person, and you're a tough guy who needs a firm hand. You need to invest time in getting to know each person's past, talking to their parents, understanding what that person is like.

In this race to overcome obstacles, you asked some competition judges what they didn't like about your team and they replied that your swimmers were "too fat".

— It makes me laugh now because I think about how anyone could come up with that idea. But that's how it was; many times they wouldn't even look at performance if they saw a tall, slender girl. In that context, I could complain and make excuses or defend what I had. With this team of "fat girls," as the judges called them, what am I supposed to do? Well, we'll do what no one else can because we have so much more muscle and are so much stronger. And since the new rules value difficulty more, we turned it to our advantage. We knew how to change the rules of the game instead of changing ourselves, proposing exercises in the pool that surprised them. And that was the brilliance of it all.

At the Doha World Championships, just when I was at my best, a mistake was made that served to show you that the job was done.

— It was the Olympic qualifier. Now or never. And someone from the Federation made a mistake handing out the swimmers' rosters. Imagine that. Everything was ready, just minutes to go before we were due to jump in the water... and then they tell us that one swimmer couldn't compete because the roster had a different name. The name they'd given was Calista Liu, who was in the stands, ready to cheer, dressed in her tracksuit. We dragged her downstairs, got through security... and the girl who couldn't compete, with the cameras rolling, took off her swimsuit and gave it to her. The cameras were focused on something else; it was chaotic. Calista hadn't warmed up; we could have thought she wasn't ready. But we told her she knew what she had to do, after so much training. I told the team that if they pulled it off, they'd be the best in the world. And they looked at me; they were on the verge of it. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. And we won the silver medal.

Let's jump forward in time. You mention in the book that during your last Games as a competitive swimmer, in London, you were taking antidepressants. And you won two medals.

— When we're out there competing in the Games, we seem very powerful. But we have the same problems as everyone else, and we fight as best we can. And at that moment, I knew that my father's death, who had cancer, was imminent. And I wanted to be there. But in sports, we learn to stay focused. You compete, you give it your all, and then you go back to bed to cry. It's very important to know how to control your emotions when necessary and not let them manipulate you. And then to know how to heal without relying solely on medication. I've seen so many parents in the United States hiding antidepressants and a bottle of wine... I realized that you have to go back to understand the cause of your problems. And not hide it.

What was it like living in the United States?

— After retiring, I started a new life at 30. All I knew how to do was swim. And my partner, Víctor, who's a gymnast, and I were lucky enough to travel the world for a few years, learning about other cultures and ways of life. I got offers to work as a choreographer or consultant for artistic swimming teams around the globe. We'd go, I'd do the work, and then we'd stay for a few months to explore the country. When Kilian was born, everything changed a bit, and then the offer from the United States came along. We sold everything and went with five suitcases, our son, and our dog. It was a new beginning. It was worth it. About the United States, I'd say that if we could take the good things from here and the good things from there, it would be perfect. Something I really admired about them is how much they foster self-confidence in their education. Here, there's a lot of negative criticism when people grow up, but they believe they can achieve anything they want. But they also have much more individualistic millionaires there, a lot of selfishness. You see drugs, people on the streets. And you're afraid of breaking your foot because going to the doctor costs $10,000. I didn't want to stay anymore.

The 2028 Games will be in Los Angeles, where you used to live. A sign?

— The reason I hesitated to accept the offer to coach Spain was because I was living in Los Angeles, and coaching the United States then would have been a way to reap the rewards of my hard work. But above all else is family. My husband, Víctor, came back. And American culture is really cool.... But there comes a point when it becomes too much, and we didn't want to retire there. Between that, the guns, and Trump's return, it was time to go back. Besides, if I accepted, I could coach Paula Ramírez and Txell Mas, with whom I competed, before they retired.

In the summer of 2024, I won silver at the Paris Games. What was that moment like? China, coached by Anna Tarrés, won gold, and Spain, with a team where I have friends, won bronze.

— It was a goal achieved. Because I felt I had to give back to the United States what they had given me. In 1996, the United States won gold at the Atlanta Games. And I had a VHS tape that I wore out from watching it so much. After 1996, their level started to decline just as we were improving here. They had inspired me as a child, so I wanted to bring them back to the top. It was beautiful. And even more so winning a medal alongside Anna Tarrés, who was a key figure, along with María José Bilbao, in creating a culture of artistic swimming here. Surpassing Spain made me a little dizzy. Even a feeling of guilt, with so many teammates there... But here we are, I'm back.

You've created a method that requires enjoyment. Years ago, Anna Tarrés was criticized because...

— I know for sure that some people have suffered. I don't mean to belittle anything, you know? But in my experience, I had a great time, it empowered me a lot, and I learned a lot. I'm grateful every day for having had this experience. Maybe I experienced it that way because things were tough at home, so Anna's didn't seem so bad to me. Besides, she's changed too; now she trains the Chinese girls differently. She's empathetic, she listens, she adapts to the new generations. We all learn, we all evolve. When my father went to school, they'd hit his fingers with a ruler, right? And my grandfather would ring a bell for his wife. I swear. Tough, huh? We're all improving.

We also improved with the presence of men in artistic swimming, with a role model like Dennis González.

— I'm so lucky to have had him as my coach, because he's such an enthusiast... So much so that sometimes I have to hold him back because he gets injured. He inspires us as a swimmer and as a person, and he's leading a social change, because we talk a lot about the barriers women face, but men have them too, you know? It seems like they can't do anything where they aren't seen as man enough. This, in reality, is a barrier. It clips your wings, because in that respect, you're not completely free. If Dennis can liberate even one child, can change some minds, all the better. He's a guy who has managed to follow his passions, ignoring those who do nothing and criticize you from the comfort of their couches.

To inspire your team, how do you select the music? Lately, you've been favoring Rosalía.

— The swimmers have a voice. Especially in the individual event, because it's more personal. I usually have a hard time finding the right music, so when they come up with ideas, it's great. Now, if I find one, I'm very persistent, and I start editing and doing things, manipulating the music a lot, like I'm DJ Fuentes. Yes, I really enjoy that process.

I train for many hours. It's a very tough sport. Do you still feel misunderstood compared to other sports?

— I've reached a point... Look, when I was younger it used to make me angry. I remember an interview where we said that footballers wouldn't last two minutes in our training. But now I'm at a point where I don't care what other people think. I don't need you to judge me or tell me everything I deserve, or build me a monument. I'm at a point where I say I don't care what they think, I already know what it is. And if they don't approve, well, that's that.

It's so tough that there's a risk involved. A photograph of you jumping into the water to save Anita Álvarez, who was drowning in a Budapest swimming pool, became famous.

— It's the hardest part of our sport, holding your breath. Our heart rate is 180 beats per minute underwater. The challenge isn't just holding our breath, but holding it at the heart rate of someone running. That's what's difficult. At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Anita Alvarez, the US solo swimmer, pushed herself too far.Sometimes you faint because you're not giving your body enough oxygen. When it happens during training, there's always someone nearby to help you. When we get out of the water, we have a reflex, even if we're unconscious, that when we feel the air on our skin, we wake up. But that didn't happen. I was terrified, to be honest. I jumped in as fast as I could, and we managed to wake her up with one of the various techniques: pressing on her little finger with an object, like a pen, to cause a very sharp pain that makes you wake up with a rush of adrenaline. And that was enough to wake her up. She suffered for almost two minutes. This has happened before, but that time it was a World Championship, and a photographer took the picture. It ended up in the magazine. Time as one of the most incredible photos of the year. The next day I had interview requests from all over the world. People from Mozambique talking about me. And artists who painted pictures inspired by the photo. The beautiful thing was that Anita printed the photo and hung it on her wall at home to remind herself that she couldn't go any lower... and that everything would go up from then on. It was part of the journey to win the Olympic medal. Now she has the photo of the scare and the Olympic medal on her wall. From the lowest point you can reach, which is almost dying, to the highest, which is making your dream come true.