Sara Barrios listens to Virginia Ramírez talk about the Barcelona Games and recognizes that she must make an effort to put herself in the shoes of the pioneers: “Everything seems so remote to me…!”.
Thirty years ago it was unthinkable that a team of Spanish women could compete for an Olympic medal. Much less do what Virginia Ramírez did with Mariví González, Natalia Dorado, Mari Carmen Barea, Silvia Manrique, Teresa Motos, María Ángeles Rodríguez, Sonia Barrio, Celia Cores, Eli Margall, Nagore Gabellanes, Maider Tellería, Mercedes Coghen, Núria Olivé, Anna Maiques and Maribel Martínez, members of the hockey team that won the Olympic championship final.
It was the first Spanish women’s gold in the history of team sports. A feat that successive field hockey teams —in both categories— failed to repeat.
“The next challenge for women’s hockey has to be another Olympic medal,” says Virginia Ramírez, with a hint of impatience in her voice.
The 58-year-old from Madrid, a veteran of the expedition that won the founding gold, does not hesitate to challenge her successor, a 22-year-old from Madrid and a member of the national team preparing for the Paris 24 Games.
Both met last Tuesday to chat about their sport on the anniversary of the Barcelona Games that changed everything.
“We have the example of 1992”, says Sara, like someone reviewing the History manual. “But just because they got it doesn’t mean it’s easier for us! Our goal is to get into the semi-finals and fight for the top three at the Paris Games.”
The Country Club player, who is studying Medicine and is about to start her vacation after playing in the World Cup in Terrassa, looks at her interlocutor with a mixture of admiration and surprise. Virginia recites the Iliad.
Barcelona marked a before and after in sport and in women’s sport in particular. In 1992 society and sports were tremendously sexist
Virginia Ramirez
“Barcelona marked a before and after in sport and in women’s sport in particular,” he says. “It was very clear that when you invest you get results. The ADO plan emerged, money was provided to the teams, and the best result of medals that Spain has had in its entire history was obtained. We were a totally innovative team. We did things that were not done at that time, like having a sports psychologist. we had one full time. He was traveling with the team. So it was unthinkable that a Spanish Olympic team would have a psychologist 24 hours a day”.
It is not by chance that the first team sport in which women played a leading role was hockey. The game of stick It was always groundbreaking. In 1992 as in 2022. “To prepare for the recent World Cup in Terrassa this year, we did a sleep study to optimize rest. They examined how we each slept and then handed us two glasses. Some with light, which you wear to wake up depending on whether you are in the evening or morning; and others with a filter to help you fall asleep. You put them on for a while, take them off and sleep. If, for example, we played at 9:00 p.m., at 5:00 p.m. we put on our glasses to activate ourselves”.
Virginia is amazed at the technological applications but remembers that without the human factor, women’s hockey would not have advanced. “Hockey”, she says, “was a pioneer in the development of a women’s team mainly thanks to José Brasa, the coach, who convinced us”.
“Before Barcelona 92 we were very bad”, remembers Virginia; “It must have been 12 or 13 o’clock. ranking, and José convinced us that we could do something great. He came from men’s hockey and in the first game, which we played against the Netherlands – who normally beat us 7-0 – he approached everything as if we were going to win. We all said: “But what about this man? Doesn’t he have a clue about women’s hockey? But if the Dutch give us a beating of a lifetime! And we won. We beat the Netherlands for the first time. Brasa convinced us that with a lot of work, dedication and effort we could get into the semifinals. She turned us into high-level athletes. We were not. In 1986 we went from concentrating on summer to training every day. We learned to manage food, sleep, rest…”
The Barcelona Games, Virginia insists, opened an unprecedented path towards equality. “In 1992, society and sports were tremendously sexist,” she stresses. “The federations did not treat their men’s teams the same as their women’s. Most of the budget went to the boys and the girls got the crumbs. Our generation should have tried harder. In 1992 there weren’t even 400 women’s records and now there are several thousand”.
“I feel that equality is sought a lot,” says Sara. “It’s not a 50-50 situation. But you look back and you realize that in 92 there was a lot of difference between men and women. Now there is no equality. You see it in football, which is the most visible sport. But there is a boom of women’s sport. We have many sponsors. The idea spreads that we represent all the women of Spain”.
Hockey is a very technical sport. The weight of the technique makes women more equal to men than in football or basketball
Sarah Barrios
Apart from social factors, Sara points out a hypothesis to explain why women’s hockey is not so different from men’s, as it happens in other team games. The stick, she says, constitutes an equalizing element. “Thanks to stick, hockey is a more technical sport”, he points out. “The weight of the technique makes women more equal to men. In football or basketball, the physical is more decisive. It is seen in the development of women’s football in countries like Sweden or Germany. In hockey it’s not just the physical. You have to have a lot of technique.”
Virginia agrees: “Hockey is a technically very complicated sport because not only do you have to handle something that is foreign to your body, like the ball, but you have to do it with something that is also foreign to your body, like the stick. ”.
The Spain of 1992 bears little resemblance to the Spain of 2022, just as contemporary hockey has undergone a remarkable transformation. “The biggest change is technical,” says Virginia, who confesses her fascination to Sara. “Technically you are much better than us. Definitely! Now I see them and I say: ‘How well they play, how beautifully they do it!’ We were physically very good. We were made beasts. We weren’t the best team but physically we were very good and mentally we were very focused on every little step. And we were also lucky!”
”Before there were offsides, obstructions, the game was constantly interrupted…”, says the medalist. “Now fewer fouls are made and the players have more control of the stick and the ball. You do things like dragging or dragging backhands, or whips! Things that nobody did before.
Players invent and inventions enter through the eyes and spread from stick to stick. Sara knows what it’s like to backhand her because she learned it by watching other boys and girls. “Since we were very little, with my sister Laura we would watch games at the Country Club and then we would repeat the gestures,” she says. “I was very fussy. I learned to hit backhand with my sister. Alone. We would practice until she came out.”
Sara holds a stick with both hands and demonstrates for the teacher. “You have to turn your hands to turn the grip,” she says, “because you can’t hit the ball on the curved side of the club.”
30 years have passed and Virginia enjoys the exhibition. The gold was not in vain.
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