She is the woman with the most medals in the history of the World Swimming Championships and also a reference in the fight for family conciliation in the world of sport. Ona Carbonell (Barcelona, 1990) left the pools last May after two decades dedicated to her sports career, and today she is president of the Maternity and Sports Commission in the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), born on the 8th of March. The athlete, mother of Kai and Teo, three and one year old, respectively, advocates for a ranking freeze for athlete mothers, by international federations, “from the moment you give birth until at least 18 months,” since without In her opinion, “there is no conciliation since you fall to a distant position and you do not have scholarships nor can you even opt for a pre-Olympic competition,” said the Catalan at the celebration of the Marca Women’s Sports Awards gala.
The double Olympic medalist – silver in duo and bronze in team, which she achieved in London 2012 – emphasized the new proposals they want to carry out to vindicate the rights of athletes who choose to be mothers. «We have been fighting for a year and we will continue. Two days ago we wrote a kind of letter to the IOC that we hope will be approved, in which we ask that there be specific care for mothers with babies from 0 to 18 months and that there be breastfeeding rooms in the Olympic village,” explained the former captain. of the synchronized team, who already starred in a documentary, ‘Ona Carbonell. Start Over’ where she addresses this situation.
Something similar to this was already seen in the last Women’s Soccer World Cup, where Ivana Andrés attended with her daughter Jara, who had practically just been born, or Irene Paredes, who took her son Mateo, who had not yet attended the oceanic event. It reached two years. «It would have been very difficult for me to be away from home for two months, with so many kilometers and jet lag. “I wouldn’t have recognized her when I returned!” explained the Real Madrid soccer player in August. «To perform at the highest level there is also everything that surrounds training… It is necessary that I be with him and he be with me. In the 2015 World Cup there were players who had to take leave and vacations from work to be able to play. The change that has occurred in eight years is summarized in those things, in how we were then and how we are now,” said the Barça captain.
«We have a network of specific professionals in pre- and postpartum, but what we do not have is a subsidy for them and that is what we are fighting for now because I think it is essential. “Sport evolves in nutrition, in performance and in many things, but very little in conciliation and for example we do not have professionals who can accompany you to train while pregnant or postpartum,” confirmed the former artistic swimmer, who participated in three Olympic Games ( 2012, 2016 and 2021). In the last ones, held in Tokyo, she tried to take her son Kai to the Games to continue breastfeeding, but she couldn’t do it. Her claim for being a sports mother has increased since then, with her second child born last year.
Ona showed that it is possible to combine motherhood with elite sport with the recording of a documentary about her daily life on the way to the Tokyo Games. Her public appearances to defend the role of sports mothers have been numerous in recent times and have made her one of the great champions of this situation.
«I gave birth and within a month I was training and in less than a year competing in the Olympic Games. For years I have been aware that women do not have the tools and resources to advance at a level of equality. I have worked to make visible how little progress had been made in conciliation. We will work so that women who want to be mothers do not have to give up their sports career,” claimed the former swimmer.
2023-11-03 10:18:46
#Ona #Carbonells #phantom #conciliation
