Andrea Fuentes

“I thought a good swimmer couldn’t be a good coach.” Over time, the source of this quote, Andrea Fuentes (Valls, Tarragona, 1983), proved herself wrong. Her appointment as national coach of the year at the last Spanish Olympic Committee gala is further proof of this. An award that goes hand in hand with the one she received at the 12^th Premios Mujeres a Seguir (MAS) awards ceremony—sponsored by Iberia—in the Sports category. One of her endorsements are the many medals won by the Spanish national artistic swimming team in 2025—nine medals at the World Championships in Singapore and eleven at the European Championships in Funchal (Portugal)—. Her empowering leadership, as she calls it, has won over her athletes, who talk wonders about her. “I like to create a safe space where they feel that the team is their armour—Andrea explains. I love that process: facing challenges, dealing with problems, looking for solutions, helping and leaning on each other.” A method that, before coming home, already worked well for her in the United States, where she led the team to win silver at the Paris Games. The Olympic gold medal, which she was unable to win as a swimmer and that still escapes Spanish artistic swimming, is her big goal. “I’m going for that medal. With all my soul. And I know we’ll get it, if not in Los Ángeles, then at the next Games,” Andrea declares.

“I use sport to teach life skills that aren’t taught in any classroom,” states her Instagram profile. What does sport teach that cannot be learnt anywhere else?
To make things that seem impossible possible. High-performance sport brings out the best in you; it helps you overcome your limitations and reach your full potential. This is something that teamwork also promotes because together we can do even more. When all the members of a team know themselves and each other deeply, together they can make the most of their strengths to create something unique, the ultimate performance, which is what elite sports demand. The key is to respect each person’s authenticity.

When you retired in 2013, did you struggle to put down new roots and discover who you were beyond sport?
Yes, because we athletes spend our lives following rules. Our path is strongly defined. When you retire, you’re in your thirties and breaking out of your shell isn’t the same as when you are 18. I was internally calm because I am brave, smart, humble and I knew I wouldn’t end up under a bridge. I decided to give myself time to get to know myself outside of sports and learn what I genuinely wanted, what I am passionate about. I didn’t want to start any old thing just to stay busy. I slowly started receiving coaching offers and I felt like I had a lot of knowledge to share. I love my job, especially empowering my athletes and creating a human team.

Now you’ve experienced both sides, as an athlete and a coach, which would you choose?
I can’t choose. There’s a time for everything, and I’ve loved both. If I were born again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m incredibly happy now and I think I may end up becoming a better coach than I was an athlete. At the beginning, I struggled because it was a new profession for me and I had many doubts about how to do things. I also received criticism from old-school coaches… until I started to beat them all (laughs). They saw that my method works. Now I trust it and have that security. It’s been a process.

“I don’t want to be remembered as someone who brought in medals, but caused hours of therapy; I want to empower my athletes and give them wings”

Would you say your main role as the Spanish national coach is to give your athletes’ talent wings?
Yes, that is more important to me than winning medals. I always tell my athletes: “If you know yourself deeply and seek to become the best version of yourself, the medals will come.” Human beings are practically all the same, the thing that distinguishes elite athletes is the path they choose: getting to know their bodies and breaking their limits. We often only think about the medals, about making history, and we forget about the journey. It’s important to take each step as it comes, combining hard work and intelligence. I don’t want them to achieve the result before knowing how to.

Is the empowering leadership you apply as a coach a response to the authoritarian leadership you experienced as an athlete?
It is more a response to a generational shift… I have tried to adapt to new generations, interpreting what I think athletes need now. Training sessions need to catch their attention quickly, they have to be fun and attractive; if not, you won’t get the most out of them. They are a generation who have grown up differently, also in terms of how they are treated, and there are certain things they will not accept. I also don’t want to lead that way because it’s not my style.

Andrea Fuentes, winner of the Premio Mujeres a Seguir 2025 in the Sports category, poses with the award. © Courtesy of MAS

“With Andrea, we aren’t afraid of failing,” declared Iris Tió after one of the last championships. Is it important to change people’s perception of making mistakes?
In our sport, if you tip one degree to the right for one second, that is a mistake and our exercises last three minutes. Therefore, there is a lot of room for error and no going back. I believe that, if you think a lot about mistakes, the likelihood of making them grows. I always tell them to not think about the consequences, but rather about the opportunities. Now, I’m in a position of authority and I work with respect towards the athlete. I don’t want to be remembered as someone who brought in medals, but caused hours of therapy; I want to empower my athletes and give them wings.

“It is quite widely accepted for women to practice historically masculine sports, but the opposite is still a taboo among men”

“When you are at the top, it is much harder to rise,” you assured when you took the reins of the national team. After the successes of 2025, have we topped out?
The maximum number of medals that can be won at the Artistic Swimming World Aquatics Championships is eleven and we won nine [three gold, two silver and four bronze medals], so there’s still room for improvement in terms of results. At the European Championships, which were held the month before, we made a clean sweep: eleven out of eleven [five gold, three silver and three bronze medals]. Is it a failure if we don’t win gold? Not at all. What I convey to my athletes is that they do not need to compare themselves to others, but rather to themselves. If we got a 9.25, the goal is to improve that score. We need to jump a bit higher, swim a bit faster, our bodies need to come farther out of the water… The room for improvement is infinite; there are no limits.

For Spain to become a benchmark for artistic swimming worldwide was a milestone, but for it to remain so is even more incredible. What has been the key?
The key is that we have always made sure that the next generation trains with the previous one. For example, now we have added three young athletes so they can learn the ropes. Even though they aren’t officially part of the team yet, they spend every hour of every day with us. They know the practical dynamics of the team and there is a direct transfer of knowledge. This practice was started by my coach, Ana Tarrés.

At the Premios MAS, one of your pupils was also acknowledged: Dennis González. What value does he provide as a pioneer and role model of men’s artistic swimming?
And not only of artistic swimming. Dennis represents man’s fight for ultimate freedom. It is quite widely accepted for women to practice historically masculine sports, but the opposite is still a taboo among men. They are slaves to their own social boundaries. There are more and more boys who want to practice traditionally female sports, and they come up against that boundary. Dennis’ mission goes beyond artistic swimming; he is leading social change. He is full of certainty and carries the homophobic comments he receives with grace. He tells me: “If other boys see that I don’t care, that [those comments] even bring me strength, I encourage them to follow their passion.” And I remind him that the more haters he has, the better. That means that he is having an impact, that he is doing something huge. It is a sign that things are starting to change.