Sport

Canoeing has turned into the Olympic sport that has won Spain the most titles with 23 medals, surpassing sailing. What’s the secret? Marcus Cooper, Antía Jácome, ‘Sete’ Benavides and Javier Hernanz tell us all about it.

The athletes on the Iberia Talento a bordo Team visited the airline’s offices after taking part in the Paris Games to give thanks for the support received during the Olympic cycle.

The rainbow jersey, which once a year is worn by the best in each discipline, is the most sought-after in the world of cycling. Which Spanish cyclists have worn it throughout history?

The athletes on the Talento a Bordo Team gave their all in Paris. Some returned with a smile from ear to ear, others with a slightly disappointed frown, but every one of them with the satisfaction of a job well done.

The Billie Jean King Cup celebrates its 60^th anniversary and Spain dreams of winning a title that has remained elusive since 1998. How much do you know about the premier team competition in women’s tennis?

Thirteen elite athletes onboard a unique journey: taking Spanish sport to the top. The airline presents an original documentary telling the story of the Iberia Talento a bordo Team.

A new member has joined the Iberia Talento a bordo Team: Marcus Cooper. This canoeist, who won a gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo, is a firm favourite to be the flag bearer of the Spanish delegation at the Paris Games. Do you want to get to know him?

In her dreams, canoeist Antía Jácome can see herself at the Paris Games with a medal (or two!) around her neck. A dream that, after winning three silvers at the last World Championships, seems destined to come true.

Since she was little, Silvia Mas learnt how to read the wind. The wind sometimes blows in your favour and other times against you, but it always brings good tidings. This is what one of the most award-winning yachtswomen in Spanish sailing believes.

After the Tokyo Games, Ray Zapata considered quitting. Now, less than a year away from the Paris Games, the only thing on this Dominican-Spaniard gymnast’s mind is flying high again, why not?

The Spanish female tennis team, captained by Anabel Medina and made up by Paula Badosa, Sara Sorribes, Rebeka Masárová, Cristina Bucșa and Marina Bassols, dreams of winning the Billie Jean King Cup (BJK Cup) in Seville.

This completely blind Paralympic athlete dreams of winning his third Paralympic gold medal in Paris and, to make that dream come true, he admits that mental health is just as important as physical health, if not more so. A graduate in Psychology, he defends the value of this science in sport.

Race walking, a quintessential discipline in athletics —in the Games since 1908— is in danger. One of the most talented race walkers in Spain, Diego Gª Carrera, admits as much. But all is not lost.

When Rodrigo Conde, a rower, gave up on the Games, it changed his life. For good. Now, after leaving behind the lightweight category, which forced him to take his body to the limit, he dreams of stepping on the podium in Paris.

The gold Alberto Ginés won at the Tokyo Games turned him into a star overnight. When this climber stepped out of the spotlight, he returned to his training sessions with one main goal: to get motivated again.

This athlete knows exactly what overcoming obstacles is like, and this judoka is used to falling down and getting back up again. Their respective sports have built their characters and turned them into the people they are today.

Paralympic swimmer Sarai Gascón has added four more medals —one gold and three bronze— (and counting) to her extensive collection during the recent World Championships held in Manchester. Her next goal? Winning the gold in Paris.

The Spanish basketball team will attend the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia with both feet firmly on the ground, according to Willy Hernangómez and Joel Parra. But that doesn’t keep them from dreaming of winning again.

Both Gerard Descarrega and Rodrigo Conde are among the elite of their respective sports: para-athletics and rowing. But neither of them competes alone, this athlete runs alongside his sighted guide and this rower, alongside his teammate.

The Spanish women's football team dreamed of winning the World Cup and they have ended up making a whole country dream. Olga Carmona and Irene Guerrero were aware of the difficulty, but they finally bring the Cup home.

A whirlwind. This is the natural phenomenon Adriana Cerezo is most like both on and off the tatami. And that strength is what carries this taekwondo athlete through the air at each championship and during each training session.

They don’t practice the same sport, one does swimming and the other canoeing, they were born seven years and more than one thousand kilometres apart, but Sarai Gascón and Antía Jácome have one thing in common: their love for water.

Dreams sometimes await us thousands of miles away. Leaving his roots behind, Hugo González de Oliveira flew to the United States to make his dream come true: becoming one of the best swimmers in the world.

The Spanish female basketball team has set its sights high at the Eurobasket in Israel and Slovenia. Alba Torrens contributes experience and Maite Cazorla, her youth, a winning combination to reach the top of the tournament.

Are you ready for the 2023 World Cup in Philippines, Japan and Indonesia? 

Since last December, a severe injury has kept Niko Shera off the tatami. Any other judoka hoping to win a medal at the Paris Games would be anxious, but he keeps calm and collected, and only thinks about winning gold.

Just a few days before the Tokyo Games, Irene Sánchez-Escribano felt her left foot crack. Tests confirmed the worse-case scenario: a broken second metatarsal bone. A severe blow. This summer, she’s working slow and steady towards Paris.

Alberto Ginés and Ray Zapata are quite different, but they have several things in common: their passion for their respective sports, an unquenchable competitiveness, winning medals in Tokyo, and chemistry, lots of chemistry!

Breaking will make its debut at the next Olympic Games and Spain has one of the best b-boys in the world: Juan de la Torre, better known as Xak. Do you want to learn more about him and this sport?

To understand their passion for taekwondo and swimming, we must look back, specifically at a grandfather who watched martial arts films with his granddaughter, and to a father who taught his son to swim at the tender age of one.

What do the rising stars of Spanish sport have in common? Sacrifice, hard work, training and talent, a lot of talent. Discover a generation that is set to leave its mark.

Together with jockey Julia Zambudio, we visit the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela in Madrid. During the tour, this girl tells us what it's like to live among horses: looking after, training and riding them!

Yachtswoman Silvia Mas and walker Diego Gª Carrera, both members of the Iberia Talento a bordo Team, show us what their day-to-day is like preparing for the next Games and come together to share confidences.

Iberia proves its commitment to Spanish sports talent by supporting a group of 13 athletes on their path towards the Paris Games.

Former manager Javier Clemente, retired international football player Marcos Senna, and journalist Lara Gandarillas analyse Spain’s chances at the next World Cup, and are optimistic.

This golfer from Extremadura reaches the Open de España after a season where he came fourth at the Omega European Masters and ninth at the Italian Open. His goal? Qualifying for the final in Dubai, playing the British Open in 2023 and, above all, continuing to enjoy a sport he’s passionate about.

We chat to Nacho Elvira, Spanish golfer and winner of the 2021 Wales Cazoo Open. This golfer from Cantabria takes stock before the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid and goes over his career, personal life, and view on talent.

In 2001, Pau Gasol landed in Memphis at the tender age of 21. The rest is history... Two decades later, and one year younger, Santi Aldama does it again, proving his talent during his debut in the NBA.

The blood of winners, of competitors, of cyclists, courses through the veins of Carlos and Raúl García Pierna. Both brothers have always dreamt of rubbing shoulders with the best. Getting to do it together is a feeling shared by few. Today, more than ever, they’re on the path to achieving this.

What is talent for Rafa Nadal, the player who’s won the most Grand Slams ever? This tennis player from Manacor answers this question and tells us how they work at the Rafa Nadal Academy.

The Spanish female football team attends the Women’s Euro in England at a great time and, although Sandra Paños, the starting goalkeeper, doesn’t play favourites, she does admit that the team is talented enough to dream big.

Lydia Sempere was born with profound bilateral hearing loss. Nobody would have imagined what this young woman from Alicante would be today: a race car driver.

Dani Rincón and Ariana Geerlings are two of the rising stars within Spanish tennis who train at Rafa Nadal Academy, a place where the values of this tennis player from Manacor can be felt with every step. And every stroke.

Woman, winter sport and success. Few, very few, can feel represented by these three words in a country like Spain and one of them is Queralt Castellet. A ‘rara avis’ that faced a challenge: the Beijing Games.

The figure of Paula Badosa rises, after her exceptional end of the season in 2021 and with the permission of Garbiñe Muguruza, as the benchmark that Spanish women's tennis has been yearning for for years.

There was a time, not so long ago - the airwaves sounded like ‘Las chicas son guerreras’ (‘Girls are Warriors’) - in which girls like Silvia Navarro and Carmen Martín, today’s captains of the Spanish handball team lacked female references. Times have changed and now they are the mirror in which thousands of girls can look at themselves.

We speak to Pau Gasol about the première of his documentary It’s about the journey. At a key moment in his career, he tells us how his leitmotif (“always enjoy the present”) has guided a career full of success on and off the court.

Tokyo 2020 is five months away, and Fátima Gálvez is honing her skills to have a shot at her first Olympic medal. After her fifth place in London and a diploma in Rio, the sport shooter is going for the podium, giving it her all to keep hitting targets and breaking down barriers like gender inequality.

To live among and compete against the stars of the NBA is something only a few can aspire to. José Manuel Calderón is one of the Spanish talents who wrote the golden pages of Spanish basketball history and earned their spurs in the best league in the world.

Carla Suárez, one of the standard bearers of Spanish women's tennis of the past few years, will say goodbye to the courts at the end of the season. Her next move? To put herself at the service of the national team, starting on 7 and 8 February at the Fed Cup tie against Japan.

This summer, her name will be recorded in Spanish sports history. As soon as her paddle hits the Japanese water, Teresa Portela will be the first Spanish female athlete to compete in six Olympic Games. A few months before fulfilling that dream, she’s telling ‘Talento a bordo’ about the many other challenges she’s facing in the near future.

Technique, tactics and physical condition are the main aspects sportsmen and women work on. However, until very recently, the mind, one among the pillars for elite athletes, had been largely forgotten, as experts in sports psychology and fact themselves confirm.

Taekwondoist Jesús Tortosa is going to Tokyo Olympics feeling optimistic and with plenty of possibilities to take home a medal. This will be his second Olympic Games—time to conquer the Japanese tatami.

Having more caps than any of his Hispanos teammates does not mean Raúl Entrerríos is any less eager to play. The captain of the Spanish men’s handball team is starting the European Championship with the same passion as ever: trying to keep the cup in Spain, where it has been since 2016, and at the same time earning a ticket for what, should he succeed, will be his final big tournament: this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

On the occasion of the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, Iberia is supporting a group of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Led by weightlifter Lydia Valentín, who will fight for her fourth consecutive medal, the ‘team' of athletes sponsored by the company will face challenges in disciplines as diverse as shooting, taekwondo, karate, judo, sailing, canoeing, swimming, powerlifting, and triathlon.

Tokyo will be Lydia Valentín’s fourth and final Olympic Games. While the Spanish weightlifter has won her fair share of medals, this time her objective will be to make a clean sweep, as the crowning achievement of a brilliant career. She tells us this in an interview during a break from the tough training sessions she is immersed in, at ten months from the big event.

Currently immersed in the World Cup, the Spain national handball team, fondly nicknamed 'Las Guerreras' (Warriors), want to continue making history after a few years in which they have established themselves among the most powerful teams in handball. To obtain their Tokyo Olympics ticket, they’re counting on Alexandrina "Shandy" Barbosa, who is back on the court after becoming a mother.

She’s only 18, but her name has started to make the headlines and front pages at the same speed as she wins new records and medals. She crushes records and advances at leaps and bounds. Her goal: to carve a niche for herself among the worldwide athletics elite.

The Davis Cup is the most important team event in tennis, in which the best national teams compete directly. Now that this year’s edition will be in a new format, Talento a bordo challenges you to test your knowledge about one of this noble sport’s most emblematic competitions.

Over the past three decades, Spain has established itself as one of the great powers in tennis producing a string of talented players. Bruguera and Sánchez-Vicario were followed by Ferrero and Moyá, among others, and after them came Nadal, Muguruza and company. But what about the future? Many already point to young Nicola Kuhn as the next flag bearer of the new generations.

He chose tennis as a way of life. Perhaps he didn’t know it the first time he picked up a racket, but when Sergi Bruguera hit his first ball, his talent for the sport became obvious. Now, as Spain captain for the Davis Cup, the great standard bearer of Spanish tennis in the nineties looks at his successful past and, above all, the present and future of this sport in our country.

Three Davis Cups are enough to speak with authority about the world’s most prestigious tennis team competition. The tournament’s new format, the Spanish team’s goals and Feliciano López’s future are some of the topics we covered with him just before he focused on trying to win another ‘salad bowl’ for Spain.

We chat with Marta Torrejón, the most capped player in the Spanish women’s national team, about football, talent and work. She knows what she’s talking about, too, juggling a successful sports career with university degrees in Biology and History and Geography.

An Olympic metal is one of the few challenges triathlete Mario Mola has left, and this summer Tokyo will be the opportunity for him to land his first one—more than enough reason to catch up with the triple world champion and chat about goals, sports and, of course, talent.

Dani Olmo arrived in Croatia in 2015 to become one at Dinamo Zagreb, and this summer, during the European Under-21 Championship, he presented himself to the football world. He tells us about his peculiar road to becoming one of the most promising young players in Spanish football.

If the World Cup in Hungary has made anything clear, it is that Spanish canoeing is in wonderful shape. Alberto Pedrero and Pablo Graña top the medal table, finishing world champions in the C2 200 category, while the tally is completed by three silver and three bronze medals, plus four tickets for the Olympics.

The outlook of the Spanish Basketball Team for the 2019 World Cup is very promising. We had a chat with two of the team’s players que hablan en speaking on behalf of the whole team now in China. As they say, there is no greater pleasure than playing in a team to give the word companionship meaning every day. Here are Quino Colom from Valencia Basket and Willy Hernangómez from the NBA's Charlotte Hornets team.

With five medals with the national team and several stints at some of the most prestigious clubs in the ACB League, the Italian manager of the Spain Men’s National Basketball Team is the most successful coach in the history of our country. Now he is now facing one of the few challenges left: the World Cup in China.

The current chairman of the Spanish Federation swapped the basketball shoes he jumped with on the NBA courts for a suit. Sat in his office, he faces his next big challenge: the China World Cup.

The best Spanish basketball player in history welcomes us on the training court of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is recovering from an injury that made him miss the NBA Playoffs.

The World Cup in Japan in December, the one in Spain in 2021, entering the top-5 players with the most matches in the women’s handball – these are some of the goals that the captain of the national team, Silvia Navarro, has set for herself for the immediate future.

Aglow with good feelings after the great results in the last championships, Jordi Xammar and Silvia Más, skippers of the two 470-class dinghies that have options to represent Spain in the Olympic Games in Tokyo set sail for Japan to participate in the World Cup this summer (August 15-22).

Alex Dujshebaev just became the first ever Spanish top scorer of the Champions League. Let’s talk about handball and DNA.

The female stars of Spanish basketball opened a new page in the history book to write down another milestone in gold letters: they overwhelmed France in the final to revalidate a EuroBasket title they conquered in 2017, taking the third gold in the last four consecutive European championships played.

We go back to that fantastic tournament, in which a group of friends added a new accolade to the national medal table five years ago. Only USA can beat our national team on Turkey World Cup in another new succes oof spanish sport.

Mª Carmen Izquierdo, María Escario or Paloma del Río broke the moulds in a world that seemed reserved for men. Their baton has been picked up by new generations, represented by Susana Guash, Sara Carbonero or Silvia Barba achieving greater visibility for women’s sports in the process.

They are living a dream in which multi-million figures are secondary. They like to play football and give it all on the field in every game. They are a new generation destined to go down in history beyond world cups and championships. The breakthrough performance of these young women is generating skyrocketing audience rates. We talked with the girls of the Spain Women's National Football Team. High up they fly!

There is a lot of Jorge Vilda in the Spain Women’s National Football Team’s spirit. Their coach is a prudent and consistent man with a strong vision—to turn our girls into one of the best football teams in the world.

To have two members of the same family playing basketball, like Tamara and Alberto Abalde Díaz, is nothing special. Nor is the fact that both made their hobby their job. What makes these two extraordinary is that they both play for the same club, Valencia Basket, and that they are both members of the Spanish national basketball team.