Coll, a great light among the darkness, by Juan Bautista Martínez

It is not the same as a World Cup in a 50-meter pool, true. It is not logically the same as the Olympic Games, where all the figures on the planet put their maximum effort into getting on the podium. But it is not trivial either. On the one hand because no Spaniard had achieved it before. On the other hand, because the country’s swimming needs proper names and flags that can try to take over from stars like the immense Mireia Belmonte was in her day. Suddenly, Carles Coll. Suddenly, a look at the pool in winter. Suddenly, a success to be reckoned with. Until now he had not landed in the foreground, although he was in the Paris Games as a member of the 4×100 medley relay. But in Budapest he swam in an unchained, powerful and brave way. Fluid and without pressure, her gold medal also arrives with a sensational mark, in the top ten of the best ever, to give more luster to her metal.

It is part of a club as important in Catalonia and Spain as CN Sabadell, an entity that this Saturday will pay tribute to its 73 members (swimmers and water polo players) who have been Olympic or Paralympic throughout its history. Like so many others, yes, Coll packed his bags to train at a university in the United States, the largest fishing ground for prestigious swimmers in the world. Sergi López gets his training there, and if he understands anything, it’s breaststroke. 36 years after his medal in Seoul’88, a pupil of his gave him great joy in Hungary. They are not a Games, but it is a great light among the darkness of Spanish swimming.