Spanish mermaid back in the water
After taking time out to have a baby and open a sushi restaurant, Gemma Mengual, one of Spain's most successful athletes, is back in the water at the age of 34 to try to add to her collection of Olympic synchronised swimming medals.
"I dream of being on the podium and being able to say that these are my fourth Olympic Games and I have achieved that," the Catalan known as "la sirena", or "the mermaid", told Reuters in an interview as she looked ahead to the 2012 London Games.
Sitting at the bar as her sushi chef sliced into a chunk of glistening tuna with a murderous-looking carving knife, Mengual admitted it would be a near-impossible task to dethrone Olympic and world champions Russia in what will almost certainly be her swansong in major competition.
China would again be serious rivals for the silver medals, having knocked the Spanish into third place at July's world championships in Shanghai, she added.
"In the team events we can come up with choreography that is very original and beautiful and eye-catching but technically, at the level of execution, the Russians are light years ahead," said Mengual who has collected nearly 40 major medals in her career including silver in the duet and team events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"You always have to go for gold to make sure you are on the podium but right now it would be more realistic to think we can recover the silver-medal position.
"We have to see where we are, if China really are superior to us or not and go after Russia to secure the silver."
After helping Spain to win gold in the free combination at the 2009 world championships, Mengual took a break to have a baby, a son Nil born last November, and realise her long-held dream of opening a restaurant before deciding on a comeback.
INTENSE PREPARATION
She began training in earnest with her teammates this week in her home town of Sant Cugat outside Barcelona, the beginning of an intense period of preparation designed to get her back in shape to compete in the team events.
Sporting a dark tan, with her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, she said she would love to compete in the duet but was resigned to the fact that her former partner Andrea Fuentes was likely to maintain her pairing with Ona Carbonell.
"I am not going to say I wouldn't like to because I would be lying but I also want to be realistic about the break I have had these past two years," said Mengual.
"The ones who are in the best shape and who have prepared and worked the best for the Olympic Games should be selected but it's always good to have a reserve, no? I have been in this sport for many years, it's my final push, my last important year, my final effort."
Mengual, who got into the sport after watching an older cousin, said it had not been easy coming back.
"Obviously I have lost some of my physical shape and anaerobic stamina but the body, although I have to get stronger and tone everything up again, as far as weight and everything goes it's all good, perfect," she said.
Synchronised swimming is sometimes thought deceptively easy but the sparkly costumes and make-up mask a lung-bursting test of athleticism, artistry, and technical skill.
The precision routines require swimmers to hold their breath for more than a minute while carrying out a succession of dizzying turns, kicks and flips, most of which are done while upside down in the water.
When they emerge, they have to resist the temptation to gasp for air and keep smiling as they attempt to make it all appear effortless.
RUSSIAN DOMINATION
"It's a sport that is very different and water is a very strange medium that you cannot control," Mengual said.
"You have to have qualities and technique, execute pirouettes, the music, it's so all-consuming and complex, that's what makes it special."
Mengual said the Russians' domination of the sport was down to their intense training regime, which left them little time for anything outside synchronised swimming.
"As we see it, they do it to make a living whereas we do it more for amusement with the goal of getting to the Olympics but at the same time doing other things.
"It's not so obsessive. They have something like a four-year training camp and have no life outside the sport."
Asked to sum up her feelings about next year's Olympics, Mengual concluded: "Our goal is to improve on the last world championships and equal the result we got in Beijing or improve on it.
"It's going to be very difficult and tough but you have to try and enjoy the competition and everything that goes with it."