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Maialen Churraut, one the best canoe slalom paddlers not only in Spain but in the World was a special guest of the congress in Catoira. 2016 Olympic Champion, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, 2015 European Champion and holder of two individual medals at World Championships spoke to a hall full of canoeing coaches and officials as well as young fans that came to Catoira about her beginnings and hard path to the Olympic throne.

 

She talked about how she wanted to become a mother after the Olympics in 2012 and feared how to combine motherhood and professional career. She said she paddled until two days before her daughter Ane was born in 2013 and that she did not only stayed part of the elite, but also improved after the birth. What helped her to stay in the elite was also the fact that her world ranking position was frozen and after her return to competitions she still had a secured place among the best which enabled her better preparation for the run. She stressed out the importance of support she had in the federation to adapt her training schedules to the necessities of her daughter, even though travelling and finding balance have been challenging.

 

After that she completely focused to Rio Olympics which “became an obsession” for her. “I had breakfast every day with a cup with a logo from Rio and I trained as much as I could,” she said. The hard work paid off with gold medal she won in K1 in Rio, despite the fact that she almost did not qualify for the final.

 

At the end she looked into the future with the 2019 World Championships in Spain and of course the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

 

See the complete presentation in the video below (in Spanish):