The world of sport lights up, from time to time, with unique talents, people with a special gift, who cross the threshold without warning and precipitate the future. Elena Ruiz represents that future. The Spanish water polo. But also the present. A wonderful present. At only 17 years old, he already has in his record a Olympic silver medal, Tokyo-2020 and of gold achieved this summer at the European Championships in Split.
Those titles that would be the culmination of a career for many athletes are just the starting point for this athlete (Rubí, 2004), who experienced a meteoric rise with the call of Mickey Father for the Spanish team at just 16 years old, the age at which he competed in the Games, and that this summer he has earned a position as one of the team’s benchmarks both in el World Cup in Hungary as in the Split European.
“Everything has come to me suddenly, very suddenly. But my family has helped me a lot so that I could manage it, so that I didn’t get over all this. And I think I’ve done quite well, “he admits. Elena Ruiz in a conversation with El Periódico, overwhelmed by suddenly finding herself in the center of the stage.
“It is that I did not expect anything of what has happened to me. It’s not something I think about when you start playing water polo. Neither win the Junior World Cup, nor go to the Games, much less win the Olympic medal. But I think it’s better not to think about it, because if you don’t you get stuck. You have to look further if you want to be at the top and what I really dream of is Olympic gold”, he confesses Elenawho keeps her feet on the ground and has always shown a maturity well above that of young women her age.
Beyond the emotional support provided by her parents, her personal reference is her sister Ariadnetwo years older, current player of the CN Sant Andreu, the person who got her hooked on water polo, and who has traveled the path before: the debut at age 16 with CN Rubi, who was also in the junior team that won the 2021 World Cup and who has also begun to appear in concentrations of the absolute. “She had explained to me what she could expect for me. She has helped me tremendously,” she notes.
Vision of the game and goal
Her appearance at the Games, where she became the youngest player in the tournament, was not anecdotal. There are many virtues that adorn her game. Her ability to play various positions, her ability to create and assist and her goalscoring talent make her a unique player. In the European Championship she finished with 17 goals, the same as Drink Ortiz and one less than Maica García “Miki told me that if he called me up it was because of my vision of the game and my quality in the way I played,” he says. “I think so, that the best thing I have is the vision of the game, I don’t know. Sometimes I have been told that I am the Pedri of water polo”, she laughs. “When Miki Oca called me to prepare for the Games, she was convinced that she was not going to enter, that it was just for concentration. And when she told me she was going, I didn’t believe it, she freaked out, ”he releases. “Seeing so many famous people there in the Olympic Village, the Gasols, Djokovic, those from soccer… athletes that she watched on television, it was incredible,” she recalls.
His progression could hint at what was coming. At just 12 years old, he already debuted in the First Division with the CN Ruby. Last season she finished as the top scorer in the league. And she is the main reference of an exceptional generation of which they are part Paula Camus, Martina Terré or Nona Pérezamong others, European champions in 2019 and Junior World Championships in 2021, where Elena Ruiz the MVP of the tournament was chosen.
His arrival in the national team was the logical transition to the generational change initiated by Mickey Father (Paula Camus, Cristina Nogué, Martina Terré, Paula Prats and Nona Pérez were also in the European Championship gold) and his signing this summer for the CN Sabadell it is only the consequence of this new stage. Elena Ruiz was the object of desire of most of the clubs. But few teams like the almighty block he runs David Palmawith which this weekend will debut at the start of both the men’s and women’s Leagues, could fulfill all their expectations.
“I think I had to take this step and I am very happy. It’s a challenge for me,” she says. “Playing with players of this level and with a club with this history, I am convinced that it will go very well for me. And the other reason is to fight for titles, to fight for the Champions League, I really want to compete to win it”, summarizes this nursing student, the new talent that lights up the future of Spanish water polo.
