For the first time in history, more women than men in the Spanish athletics team for the Olympic Games

The Spanish athletics team for the Paris Olympic Games (from 1 to 11 August, in the case of this sport) is headed by the walkers María Pérez and Álvaro Martín and the jumpers Ana Peleteiro and Jordan Díaz, with 57 athletes, in which, for the first time in history, there will be more women (31 women) than men (26). The national coach, Pepe Peiró, announced the team and avoided talking about medals or finalist positions, but did show a moderate optimism. “The performance of our athletes in La Nucía (the town that hosted the Spanish Championship last weekend) makes us think that we will arrive in Paris with a high level of competitiveness.”

Spain will have a somewhat unbalanced team. A team with many runners and walkers, and few jumpers or throwers (two and two), an old deficiency in our athletics that has become more pronounced in 2024. In exchange, also for the first time in Olympic history, the team will present three relay teams: 4×100 for women and 4×400 for women and men.

María Pérez, despite having had some physical problems this season, and Álvaro Martín are two of Spain’s biggest assets in Paris. They are the current world champions and at these Olympic Games they will have, in addition to the 20-kilometre walk, a mixed relay team of 42.195 kilometres – the distance of a marathon – made up of a man and a woman in which each will do two relays. Spain will present two relay teams, which will not be decided until the competition arrives. There may or may not be the second unity of great Spanish walkers, with Paul McGrath and Cristina Montesinos at the head.

The other medal options will have to be sought in the triple jump pit, where the two new European champions will compete: Ana Peleteiro and Jordan Díaz, the Cuban naturalised Spaniard who in Rome became the world leader of the year with that stunning jump that gave him victory (18.18). Although there will also be room for surprises with some of the outstanding athletes in La Nucía (Alicante). Such is the case of Mohamed Attaoui, the 22-year-old Cantabrian from Torrelavega, who trains between Saint Moritz (Switzerland), the headquarters of his team, and the track of La Albericia, in Santander. The middle-distance runner won the toughest 800m final in history, with world and European champions such as Mariano García, one of the great absentees in Paris, Adrián Ben and Álvaro de Arriba, as well as the new sensation of the distance, Josué Canales, a young man born in Honduras who on June 28 received international authorization to compete for Spain, who overtook four rivals in the straight to finish second ahead of Ben and the rest. Attaoui, Canales —both born in 2001— and Ben, one who has already been an Olympic finalist, have been the chosen ones.

Another who amazed in La Nucía was Quique Llopis, who swept the 110-metre hurdles final with a time of 13.09 seconds, which is the second best Spanish mark of all time and the eighth best in the world in 2024. The Valencian is in an insulting state of form and will only face three of the six Americans who are ahead of him in the world ranking for the year in Paris. The trio, however, went under 13 seconds in the Trials held in Eugene (Oregon) a few days ago.

Another of those who stood out in the Spanish Championship was Thierry Ndikumwenayo, who, like Adel Mechaal (1,500 and 5,000), will double the event and run the 5,000 and 10,000, the distance in which he won the bronze medal at the European Championships in Rome and in which, a priori, he may have more chances of achieving a good result in Paris.

The RFEA (Royal Spanish Athletics Federation) established selection criteria for these Games that included a competitive mark of its own for those athletes who had not achieved the minimum set by World Athletics, the international federation, this season. This has left out of the selection Víctor Ruiz and Pol Retamal, who were in the same category as the decathlete Jorge Ureña, for whom an exception has been made. “It’s a strange feeling. It’s a relief and I’m super happy, but at the same time I’m sad for Víctor and Pol, who were in the same category as me,” said the athlete from Onil shortly after the list of 57 Spaniards was announced, the largest since London 2012. The selection could grow if before the weekend there are any withdrawals or withdrawals from the athletes who are ahead of the Spaniards who have been left out of the ranking.

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