Jessica Vall (36) announced yesterday that she is leaving, although the process has been long, dotted with comings and goings, and that is why I decided to open the chronicle of her goodbye with an episode from 2021.
These are the Tokyo Games, and now Jessica Vall has just competed in the semifinals of the 200 m breaststroke and two journalists, sheltered under our masks, are waiting for her in the mixed area of the Aquatics Centre.
Vall arrives, sad because she has been knocked out of the final, and when we open the conversation, she bursts into tears.
–I have a feeling of emptiness. And being an Olympic finalist resists me (I had already been one step away from achieving it in Rio 2016). And I don’t think I’ll have any more chances. “This is going to be my last semifinal in the Games,” he tells me.
–Are you retiring?
–The pandemic has disrupted my plans. Like everyone, I guess. What I know is that I would like to have more time for family. With my husband (Alberto), we want to be parents. But be careful, I’m not talking about retiring, but about stopping for a while and showing that you can be a mother and continue swimming. Another thing is that this is possible. In our sport, to be a mother it seems like you have to ask permission.
(…)
Three years later, in the Paris 2024 Olympic village, we resumed that talk.
–You did it, you are here!
–But now this is over. For Los Angeles 2028 I no longer see myself.
(…)
“I always understood that swimming is an individual sport that involves teamwork.”
Now we are in the social hall of the CN Sant Andreu and two hundred parishioners overflow the place. There are federation presidents, club presidents, swimmers, mermaids, technicians, physios, doctors, psychologists, water polo players, there are proud parents, a table full of canapés and, everywhere, hanging on the room walls, images of Jessica Vall.
Jordi Jou, his technician, tells me:
–Even this has been done well.
“I didn’t expect to have this call,” says the lady who is leaving high competition but who is not leaving swimming. And from now on, I need to do the same thing I have done in the pools, get involved in training, teach that connection with water that has given me so much peace.
And ahead video.
The parish admires this Stakhanovite breaststroke player, world bronze medalist in 2015 and triple European medalist; very few Spanish swimmers boast such a record.
–I signed my first file in October 1995. The beginning of this process was special. I don’t come from a family that has been deeply involved in sports. I was the first. However, this story has given us many lessons.
I have been working on saying goodbye since 2021. Finishing Tokyo was extra mental, with Covid”
In his story, he tells us that he has spent years and years writing down reflections in his notebooks, the psychology lessons he has been receiving, the challenges and the troubles.
–It is not easy to put into words what I feel. “I have never been into letters,” he says.
(She is a career biologist).
–It’s like finishing the last chapter of a very special book. From my beginnings at CN Catalunya they made me understand that swimming is an individual sport but that you must work as a team. I thank my coaches for everything, but one has taken me to the top. He has respected my tempos and has accompanied me in all my achievements.
(Refers to Jordi Jou).
Here Jou intervenes. Says:
–From 2012 to 2024, Jessica has been in all the international championships. He has been achieving it year after year. That’s extraordinary, isn’t it?
–I have been working on retirement since 2021. Finishing Tokyo was a mental extra, with the pandemic, two Olympic years with its wear and tear. And combining swimming with work life helped me get this extra energy. In December 2022 I told Jou that I wanted to go to Paris, with the handicap that I fractured my foot two weeks after deciding and everything broke down a bit. But, for an athlete, leaving after an injury is very hard. I wanted to recover and reach Paris.
He did it.
There she was, sharing the lane with the best specialists in the world, a third Olympic chapter, the last, since now she sees herself occupying another role in the world of sport.
“I have been a pioneer in my family: at home, no one considered sports the way I did.”
(…)
When it’s all over, reggaeton plays, the canapés fly, we pens type with souls that the devil takes and Africa Zamorano, another essential swimmer, Jessica Vall’s training partner, approaches us and offers herself:
–Journalists who are there stinging quickly, can I bring you something?
–It’s not necessary, but thank you very much for your kindness!
Let the champagne flow.
This is how Jessica Vall has managed to leave, supported by her colleagues.
–I hang up my swimsuit with a smile. It was an incredibly fantastic book.
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