Elite athletes without a retirement pension: «Let them recognize that I worked. “I don’t ask for more”

«I have played 537 games with the Spanish team and how are those 20 years of service valued? That they don’t value that time either as a job or as a year of contributions, or anything… Well, I don’t know. I made an effort for this country. And big. What do I have to do to be able to collect a pension tomorrow? How many years do I need to have a decent pension? How am I going to get the 30 years I have left, if I spent 20 in the Spanish team? At least, let them recognize that I worked. “I don’t ask for more,” complains Rafa Pascual, the best player volleyball has ever produced and a world reference until his retirement in 2011. Standard Related News Yes Pedro Rocha, KO in the RFEF elections; the dance begins with Gerardo González and Álvaro de Miguel José Carlos Carabias and Isabel Vega standard Yes doping Champions to stop doping: “We think we know where the cheaters go” José Carlos CarabiasA complaint supported by a large group of high-level athletes and athletes who after their retirement have discovered to their astonishment that their working lives were not enough to qualify for a decent retirement. Protest that has reached the Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies, which has approved the creation of a Subcommittee on the Athlete’s Statute to address this problem. This parliamentary decision is a commitment that the political parties and athletes’ associations acquired when the new Sports Law was approved, with the aim of regulating issues such as health protection, athlete insurance, taxation, equality and image rights. This is to ensure that the case of some athletes forced to live poorly is not repeated. «There are very high-level athletes who do not have a single day of contributions to Social Security. For example, José Luis Navarro Martínez, champion of Spain, professional since 1985 and winner of the mountain classification of the Giro d’Italia, does not have a single day listed from that period. Other cyclists like Pablo Moreno and Paco Albelda had to work as truck drivers, or Antón Renard as a boilermaker. Many set up bicycle shops with their savings. Those who did well were able to contribute as self-employed. Furthermore, if they are not going to collect 100% of the retirement now, they are going to be left in a very delicate situation,” illustrates José Rodríguez, former Olympic cyclist in Seoul 1988. Support from the CSD Concerned about this situation, the Higher Sports Council (CSD ) and the General Union of Workers (UGT) organized a day in the Congress of Deputies to bring together the parties involved and try to find points of consensus, as well as promote reflection on the protection of workers. athletes, especially in terms of contributions and retirement. “A great country is one that recognizes those who represent it,” José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, president of the CSD, stated in his speech. «We must recognize the athlete’s career and allow him to have full rights and, in this case, Social Security contributions that allow him to face the rest of his life without any problems at the end of his career. When you are young you don’t think about this, but retirement comes,” added Pepe Álvarez, general secretary of UGT. Elite, high-performance athletes, such as Almudena Cid, Fernando Romay, Lola Fernández Ochoa, Amaya Valdemoro, Álvaro Martín, Sara Hurtado, Jennifer Pareja, Dori Ruano, Rafa Pascual, Perico Delgado, Gemma Mengual, Gervasio Deferr and Diego García lead this battle to try to regulate the employment situation of athletes, mistreated by a legal vacuum. «We were neither nor could we be professionals, although we did play in a professional league. We paid taxes, but we couldn’t contribute. Our epigraph was that of artists and bullfighters, there was not even an epigraph of our own,” laments former basketball player Fernando Romay. «At that time we didn’t care because we were immersed in our work as athletes and what we wanted was to play as many competitions as possible. We ask that the taxed years, in one way or another, be counted as contributions, because that would allow us to have 100% of what we have contributed in recent years, which are the ones that count. I started in 1979 and retired in 1995. The years are not enough for me. It must be remembered that currently 15 years are required to be entitled to collect a retirement pension and to calculate its amount the last 25 years of contributions are taken into account, requiring 36.6 years of contributions to collect 100% of the pension to which one is entitled. has the right.Almudena Cid, former Olympic gymnast and actress, denounces the lack of protection of athletes who begin their activity so early. «Many athletes start out as minors and leaving our family nucleus, in my case it was the 400 kilometers from Vitoria to Madrid, to serve some federations. There are fellow underage Olympic and world champions who have not had any years of experience in gymnastics,” she warns. And she complains: «The effort of the medals does not appear anywhere, we have a Federation that does not revert anything that we give. Do we have to expect the club to give us something when we are allowing it to exist with our dues? It is unfeasible. There are athletes extending their careers to be able to continue receiving the scholarship, which is what they live off of. And the withdrawal is compounded by the fact that we do not have unemployment benefits. We live in absolute abandonment. We only ask that at least our effort be quantified and that it appear in our work life history.” Social Security ObstaclesHowever, and despite the complaints and arguments of athletes, there is a law that is the same for everyone and that is responsible for to remember Social Security, reluctant to grant benefits if you have not previously contributed. «People want to be on Social Security when the time of need comes. Before we didn’t realize it. We all want to benefit from the system. I always give an example: if I want to be part of a social club I have to knock on the door and say that I want to join and for that I have to register and contribute a fee, something that this social club will ask of me. When I do that I will benefit from the facilities, services, etc… This is the same thing,” explains Nicole Marco Schulke, advisor to the cabinet of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. «There are athletes who make a living from this. It is a profession and if it is a profession, we must contribute to the system. Personal income tax and contributions are two completely different things and have nothing to do with each other,” he adds. However, it recognizes that “high-level sport is of interest to the State because it serves to promote sport, because it fulfills a representative function of the State in official international competitions and generalization has shown that high-level athletes are focused and focused on sports practice and when it ends they find a void. An argument that clashes with the thoughts of sportsmen and women. “There is misinformation on the part of the federations,” says Álvaro Martín, Olympic athlete. A premise to which Romay joins: «It’s not that we didn’t want to contribute. We do not want to escape our obligations. What’s more, we must be an example so that everyone wants to contribute. Now the ball is in Parliament’s court regarding the responsibility of the legislative branch when it comes to providing answers. A subcommittee made up of 15 members from the different political forces will be in charge of writing a technical report and submitting it to the Government. «For socialists it is a priority to promote the practice of sport as a source of health and well-being, but no one is aware that sport is a profession and, consequently, guaranteeing the labor rights of athletes is part of our essential axes of political action. In this legislature we have to be able to create a Statute for Athletes that contributes to achieving rights and giving athletes of yesterday and today a little more hope,” says Amador Marqués, Sports spokesperson for the Socialist Group. Recently established, the Subcommittee must carry out the study corresponding to what was discussed and approve the report within a period of six months.

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