Mireia Belmonte

Mireia Belmonte García (born 10 November 1990) is a Spanish Olympic, world, and European champion swimmer. She is the first female Olympic champion in the history of Spanish swimming and is widely considered to be the greatest Spanish swimmer of all time.

Mireia Belmonte

Personal information
Full name	Mireia Belmonte García
National team	Spain
Born	10 November 1990 Badalona, Province of Barcelona, Spain
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, Butterfly, Medley
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  Spain International aquatics competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 2 1 World Championships (LC) 1 4 1 World Championships (SC) 7 2 1 European Championships (LC) 4 5 4 European Championships (SC) 9 2 0 Mediterranean Games 2 4 0 Total 24 20 7 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m butterfly 2012 London 800 m freestyle 2012 London 200 m butterfly 2016 Rio de Janeiro 400 m medley World Championships (LC) 2017 Budapest 200 m butterfly 2013 Barcelona 200 m butterfly 2013 Barcelona 400 m medley 2017 Budapest 1500 m freestyle 2017 Budapest 400 m medley 2013 Barcelona 200 m medley World Championships (SC) 2010 Dubai 200 m butterfly 2010 Dubai 200 m medley 2010 Dubai 400 m medley 2014 Doha 200 m butterfly 2014 Doha 400 m medley 2014 Doha 400 m freestyle 2014 Doha 800 m freestyle 2008 Manchester 200 m medley 2010 Dubai 800 m freestyle 2008 Manchester 400 m medley European Championships (LC) 2008 Eindhoven 200 m medley 2012 Debrecen 1500 m freestyle 2014 Berlin 200 m butterfly 2014 Berlin 1500 m freestyle 2012 Debrecen 400 m freestyle 2014 Berlin 400 m medley 2014 Berlin 800 m freestyle 2016 London 1500 m freestyle 2016 London 4×200 m freestyle 2008 Eindhoven 200 m butterfly 2014 Berlin 400 m freestyle 2014 Berlin 5 km open water 2016 London 400 m freestyle European Championships (SC) 2008 Rijeka 400 m medley 2011 Szczecin 400 m freestyle 2011 Szczecin 200 m butterfly 2011 Szczecin 200 m medley 2011 Szczecin 400 m medley 2013 Herning 400 m freestyle 2013 Herning 800 m freestyle 2013 Herning 200 m butterfly 2013 Herning 400 m medley 2007 Debrecen 400 m medley 2009 Istanbul 400 m medley Mediterranean Games 2018 Tarragona 200 m medley 2018 Tarragona 200 m butterfly 2009 Pescara 200 m butterfly 2009 Pescara 200 m medley 2018 Tarragona 800 m freestyle 2018 Tarragona 400 m freestyle

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio she became Olympic champion in the 200-metre butterfly, and also won the bronze medal in the 400-metre individual medley. She previously participated at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where she debuted at 17 years old, and at 2012 London, where she won two silver medals; in the 200-metre butterfly with a time of 2:05.25 and in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:18.76, improving the national record by four seconds.[1]

Biography

Early years

Mireia's parents, José Belmonte (from Freila, Granada) and Paqui García (from Huelma, Jaén), moved to Catalonia and the family has always lived in the La Salud quarter of Badalona.

She was advised to swim at the age of 5 by her doctor. Club Natació Badalona (in Catalan) was the swimming club where she started to compete. In 2003, she obtained a scholarship from Federación Catalana de Natación (in Catalan) to train at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (High Performance Center, CAR) in San Cugat del Vallés. Her coach was Jordi Murio when she was signed by Club Natació L'Hospitalet (in Catalan). After 6 years in this club, she was signed in the 2007/08 season by Club Natación Sabadell (in Catalan). She continued training at the CAR with her new coach, Carles Subirana. In 2009 she left the CAR and moved to the Club Natación Sabadell to train with Michael Piper and later Fred Vernoux.

2006 Youth World Championships

At the 2006 FINA Youth World Championships, she was the Junior World Champion in the 400-metre freestyle and in the 400-metre individual medley, and the Junior European Champion in the 200-metre freestyle and in the 400-metre individual medley.

2007 European SC Championship

The following year, training with Carles Subirana, she reached the 2nd place in the 400-metre medley at the 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships with 4:31.06, just behind the Italian Alessia Filippi. She was also classified to participate at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

2008 European Championship

On 21 March 2008, at the 2008 European LC Championships held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Belmonte won the women's 200-metre individual medley breaking the European Championship record with the time of 2:11.16. She also reached 8th place in the 400-metre individual medley. The European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008 took place in Rijeka (Croatia), where she won the 400 m individual medley gold medal in a new world record time of 4:25:06. The record was previously held by the American swimmer Julia Smit, who set a time of 4:25.87 on 28 November 2008 in Toronto, Canada.

2010 FINA World Swimming Championships

Although the season 2009–2010 was not very good for her, Belmonte recovered her best form and appeared strengthened when she arrived at the 2010 FINA World Swimming Championships, where she achieved a very remarkable performance, winning three gold medals: the 200-metre butterfly, the 200-metre medley and the 400-metre medley and a silver medal in the 800-metre freestyle, in which she was only surpassed by her teammate Érika Villaécija.

2011 XII Spanish Championship

In 2011 at the XII Championship of Spain, she swam the best time of the year in the 400-metre medley and a new record with 4:24.91 . She also reached a record in the 200-metre butterfly with 2:06:25, obtaining the minimum marks for the World Championships in Shanghai at three different distances . Also in 2011 she was at the head in the Holland competition of the 800-metre freestyle, beating the record of Spain with 8:22.78.

2012 Summer Olympics

In August 2012 Belmonte won two silver medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London:[2] one in 200m butterfly and another one in 800m freestyle. She became the first Spanish swimmer to win two Olympic medals.

2012 Summer Olympics Events
Event	Time	Place	Date
400 m Medley	4:35.62	8th	28 July
400 m Freestyle	4:08.23	13th	29 July
200 m Medley	2:11.54	10th	30–31 July
200 m Butterfly	2:05.25	Silver	1 August
4 x 200 m Freestyle	7:54.59	10th	1 August
800 m Freestyle	8:18.76	Silver	3 August

2013 FINA World Cup series

After four months without training, she was presented as a member of the team of the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia on 21 January, with a federative license for the UCAM Club Natación Fuensanta . Thus, she could combine her studies in Business Management with her training in Sabadell (Barcelona) through a blended learning program.

That year, the World Swimming Championship was held in Barcelona. Belmonte would compete in 6 events during the 8 days of the competition. On 29 July, she won the bronze medal in the 200-metre medley. On 1 August, she won the silver medal in the 200-metre butterfly. On 4 August, the last day of the championship, she won her second silver medal in the 400-metre medley. On 5 August, she was honored in her birthplace, Badalona, where he was received by hundreds of fans and decorated by the Mayor Xavier García Albiol in an institutional act.

On 10 August, she broke the world record in the short course 800 m freestyle, becoming the first woman to achieve a time under 8 minutes.[3] The next day she broke the world record for the 400-metre freestyle in short course with a time of 3:54.52.17.[4] On 29 November, she broke the record again.

2013 European Championship

On 12 December, at the European Short Course Swimming Championship held in Herning (Denmark), Mireia won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly, beating the continental record in at time of 2:01.52.19. The next day, she won another gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:05.18. She defeated the local heroine Lotte Friis in that final.

2014 FINA World Championships

Belmonte won four individual gold medals and broke two world records:[5]

2014 World Championship Swimming in Short Course Doha

On December 3, she won two gold medals in the 200-metre butterfly and in the 400-metre medley. And at the same time she achieved the world record with substantial time improvements, making her the first swimmer to go under 2 minutes in the 200-metre butterfly. In both races, she had to compete with her main rival, the Hungarian Katinka Hosszú, who topped their duels during the majority of the competitions, but was beaten by Mireia in both finals.

2015 World Swimming Championships in Kazán

In Russia, Mireia was unable to participate because of a chronic shoulder injury (bursitis) that led to months without competing at a high level. Mireia Belmonte said that her goal was to prepare well for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, although she had tried to be at the Kazan World Cup until the very last moment.

2016 Summer Olympics

In Rio 2016 Mireia Belmonte achieved a historic victory for Spain by winning the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly on 10 August, in a time of 2:04.85, just 3 hundredths of a second ahead of the silver medalist, Australian swimmer Madeline Groves, who finished with the quickest time in the semifinal. She also achieved a bronze medal in the 400-metre medley and was classified for the final of the 800-metre freestyle on 11 August.[6] She was the first Spanish female swimmer to become an Olympic champion.

World Records

Event	Time	Date	Place
200m butterfly (SC)	1:59.61	3 December 2014	Doha, Qatar
400m medley (SC)	4:18.84	12 August 2017	Eindhoven, Netherlands
800m freestyle (SC)	7:59.34	10 August 2013	Berlin, Germany

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Spanish records in swimming
• World record progression 400 metres freestyle
• World record progression 400 metres individual medley
• World record progression 800 metres freestyle
• World record progression 1500 metres freestyle

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mireia Belmonte". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
2. "Women's 200m Butterfly". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012.
3. "FINA Swimming World Cup 2013 - Berlin - Women's 800 m freestyle". omegatiming.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
4. "FINA Swimming World Cup 2013 - Berlin - Women's 400 m freestyle". omegatiming.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
5. "Two Golds for Spanish Swimmer". The New York Times. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
6. "Olympic swimming results 2016: Spain's Mireia Belmonte wins gold in men's 200m butterfly". SB Nation. 10 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Mireia Belmonte at FINA
• Mireia Belmonte at Olympedia
• Mireia Belmonte at the Olympic Channel
• Mireia Belmonte García at the International Olympic Committee
• Mireia Belmonte García (and here ) at Comité Olímpico Español (in Spanish)

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