Ana Peleteiro: "People wait until the end of their career to have a child. I was very clear: I didn't want my motherhood to stop my sports career."

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Black or white. This is how things are for Ana Peleteiro (Ribeira, La Coruña, 1995). In life, and in conversation, where he never slips a half-ink or dodges an answer. That's why, he says about himself when we talk about his haters on social networks, "either you love me or you hate me." Of firm ideas and opinions, the bronze medal in triple jump at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, silver at the 2021 European Indoor Athletics Championships, she always knew that her thing would not be a motherhood to use in the sports ecosystem, full of late mothers and sports careers truncated by offspring – "there is a lot of myth and a lot of fear in this matter"-; so she dedicated 2022 to having a daughter, Lúa, with her fiancé (they marry on September 23), the athlete Benjamin Compaoré (Bar-le-Duc, France, 1987), and in this 2023 she is already back in the fore, with her sights fixed on the Outdoor Athletics World Championships held in August in Budapest. The time left between now and then is practically gold. For this reason, his relationship with the exclusive watch brand TAG Heuer (Peleteiro is Friend of the brand) takes on a particularly relevant meaning at this time in his life. Ticking, ticking...

Ana Peleteiro: "I was very clear: I didn't want my motherhood to stop my career"CRISTINA DE ROJAS (Image and editing)

See you at the Thompson Hotel in Madrid, on a rabidly sunny April morning. Ana and Benjamin arrive at the appointment – with Lúa still oblivious to everything in her baby carriage – from Guadalajara, where they live. Fresh from their daily training, they are very hungry, but good-humored. We do the interview on a sofa overlooking the city, between quesadillas and bottles. Benjamin is learning Spanish at a rapid pace, but he does not lose his temper. In the conversation, when necessary, phrases in English and French that make everything easier are sneaked in. Ana is overwhelmed. It is obvious that his return to the sport has set in motion a whole festival of dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. Add the oxytocin of love. A full-blown cannon shot.

Ana Peleteiro wears a necklace and earrings by Tiffany.

What is the still photo of this moment in your sporting life? I'm training one hundred percent. Obviously I have to adapt the training a bit to my situation [Lúa was born on December 19]. I have been a long time without doing triple jump and I have to strengthen, pay more attention to that invisible work that is what makes you achieve excellence. If you do strictly what your coach tells you you are one more, if you do more, you can be better. The World Cup is paramount, for Benjamin (also as a coach) and for me.How has it been to fit all the pieces of life after the arrival of Lúa? The first month is dedicated to adapting to living with a baby. Benjamin is already a father (of Cassandra, Olympia and Iris, ages 9, 5 and 4); So for him everything was very easy and his experience has been very important when it comes to my own adaptation to postpartum life, when we were left alone with the baby. Benjam and I flow a lot. We flow.

BENJAMIN COMPAORÉ. Yes, everything comes very naturally between us. Calmly.

ANA PELETEIRO. It's that Benjamin is very calm. If I get stressed, he is always: "Quiet, nothing happens..." At first I dedicated myself to Lúa almost one hundred percent. The idea was for Benjamin to rest to be perfect on the indoor track. And now that I'm back and we're both working, on equal sporting terms, we're divided fifty percent.

B.C. But Ana is more important.

A.P. Benjamin wants to give me more importance because he is finishing his career and I have a lot ahead of me. We are both aware that I am the one on whom our economic situation depends to a large extent today. Even so, with Lúa we share 50%. I get up at night to give him the bottle, and in the morning he is the one who takes it when he wakes up, they spend their time as a father-daughter and I sleep an hour more and I wake up between nine and nine and a half totally rested and ready to start the day well.

Ana Peleteiro wears a top and skirt, by Fendi. TAG Heuer watch. Penditens and necklace, by Tiffany. Benjamin Compaoré, with shorts and shirt, by Fendi. Watch, by TAG Heuer.

Anti-maternity clauses in sport

The naturalness with which Ana Peleteiro speaks of her motherhood, the same with which any mother would speak, is much more revolutionary than it may seem. Suffice it to say that less than 10 years ago, ominous anti-maternity clauses (of course, they were not called that) were common in the contracts of women athletes that stipulated the termination of the contract in case of pregnancy. Other times the pregnancy modified the employment relationship between the athlete and the club. And others, sponsors cut off your tap. Still in 2018, the expert in sports and gender issues at the European University of Madrid, Marta Eulalia Blanco, said that "in elite sport motherhood is practically impossible". One of the consequences of this situation was the systematic delay in the age of motherhood, which according to Ana Peleteiro, still persists.

Is the idea that motherhood is the end of the professional career still very much installed among athletes? Yes. In fact, Benjamin's first daughter was with an athlete who ended her professional career after having her. He was older, too. Because people wait until the end of their career to make the decision to have a child, when you are no longer in good shape. And I was very clear about that: I didn't want my motherhood to stop my sports career. If I, at 37 years old, get a baby with colic, who does not sleep, who cries, I say "I pass everything". If you get a baby like that at 27 you have the strength to continue doing sports.

B.C. It is one more motivation.

P. So, in effect, there is a myth.

A. P. Yes, there is a myth and there is also a lot of fear. In my pregnancy, many women, athletes and non-athletes, wrote to thank me for showing that it is possible to combine motherhood and sport. In fact, leaving this one to be a mother increased my desire to return. Right now I'm a mother first, but I'm also an athlete and a woman. I have to take care of myself. Motherhood can completely annul you as a woman and that is something that I have always been clear that I did not want to happen.

Benjamin Compaoré wears blazer and trousers, by Hugo Boss. Ana Peleteiro wears a dress by Loewe. Watch, by TAG Heuer. Earring and ring, by UNOde50. Necklace, by El Corte Inglés. Lúa, with Mango jacket.

P. Another myth that has contributed to discussion, Ana, is that intense physical exercise is contraindicated for pregnant women. We have seen her in the gym until almost Lúa was born...

A.I trained even the day I went into labor. In fact, in the middle of childbirth I also trained, to try to make the girl fit in. But nothing, impossible, in the end it was cesarean section, hahaha. Although there are more and more women who train in pregnancy, especially girls who take care of themselves. I think it's changing the chip and that pregnancy is becoming an excuse to start taking care of yourself. Social media has helped a lot with that.

Q. Social Media. We see it a lot in them. How about their haters?

A. They are very few, really. I have a super healthy Instagram community. Assholes are everywhere and from time to time one appears, in fact I have a section where I expose my haters, so that their faces fall with shame. The other day, one who was disrespecting me a lot, sending me hateful, racist messages... I denounced it. It was the first time in my life that I have reported and I am glad that I did, because the police told me that this person was committing three different types of crime and that he would suffer the consequences.

Q. So it's not an attitude, it's an exception?

To me, at least in networks, you either love me or hate me. What's going on? Well, those who hate me very much no longer follow me. Yes, 360,000 people do, but they see my Instagram 100,000 more who are not followers. It is clear that there are many people who want to know about me, but there is something that does not quite fit them. I prefer it, because my community is very clean, very chill, and the truth is that it is also seen when sharing content, because they give a lot of feedback, I talk to them a lot ... Well, not much, with the little time I have...

B.C. A lot, a lot.

A.P. No, not much..., hahaha.

Q. But if we have even seen videos making smoothies ...

A.P. Yes, I like to create content. But it's my job too. I teach my life, but people are not inside my house either.

Dress, by Tintoretto. Shoes, by Paloma Barceló. Necklace, earrings and bracelet, by Tiffany.

Not from his house, but from the castle of his emotions, yes. The last of her viral posts, for example, came with an initial warning – "today I'm going to expose myself like never before" – and extended on the perception of her own body after pregnancy: "It was very difficult for me to look in the mirror again... I was all the time comparing myself to other girls, who had apparently recovered in the blink of an eye, and I didn't understand why, despite not having gained much weight and training so much during pregnancy, my body did not return to its place as quickly..." Until, she explains, she put aside the doubts and returned to love, respect and feel proud "of everything that my body had created. And that's when everything started to come back to his being." Now she says she is happy to have "learned once again that a woman's body is wonderful."

On adoption, loud and clear

But it is not the first time he has spoken loud and clear about personal issues. Specifically about his own adoption... People complain a lot that it takes a long time to adopt... Of course the process is very long, you are going to give a child to some adults! Among other things, it guarantees that the people who are going to take care of that child really want to have a child. Because, in addition, if you want to be a father it does not have to be of a newborn, what does it matter that he is five or nine years old, that he has only one arm or that he has Down syndrome. Mine tell me: "What we wanted was to be parents." My father did not want my mother to undergo assisted reproduction techniques. So they had it clear, they discharged, they waited seven years and then I arrived. And she was a black girl. They were told, "The girl is mestizo, her mother is white, but she is mestizo." And they said, "We don't care, we want to be parents." Adoption is fucked up, but wonderful. And traumatic. I am adopted and I have many traumas, because my mother abandoned me with two days. That what he did was an act of love, of course. That I am very grateful, yes. But I have problems that have led me to therapy because of that abandonment. He always speaks clearly of what he thinks. Nothing is cut. Less and less. Since I've been a mother I talk less... Let's go back to your pregnancy. Things were very complicated for them because they wanted to move to live in Paris... Yes, in principle we were going to live in Paris and I would travel. It was not in our plans to separate from Benjamin's daughters. But we faced endless problems. We could not rent a house in conditions, we could not become a de facto couple, I did not get the residence permit, I could not have social security there ... And after six months, after we were finally on the verge of getting a house and being told no, we fell apart. Here in Spain I left a lot, and I would have done it, but they made it very difficult for us. We went to Menorca on holiday (I was already six months old) and one day I burst into tears, because of all the accumulated stress. Benjamin looked me in the eye and said, "What if we come to Spain?"

B.C. We do our best to get us to stay in Paris. But it could not be.

Has it been very hard, Benjamin, to be away from your daughters?

B. C. Yes, it has been very hard, especially at the beginning. Because in France I had a very intense relationship with them. But I knew that if we moved to Spain I could build a better future for the whole family, also for them.

The athlete, with blouse and pauñuelo by Armani, earrings by Tiffany, and watch by TAG Heuer.

A love story in two phases

The story of this couple against the elements (and not only the geographical ones) began in 2016 – "we had our night of passion, but he already had a daughter and I was 20 years old... It wasn't the time," says Peleteiro, but it was parked until after the Tokyo Games. Although it was really Instagram, a crossover of unexpected follows, that brought them back together. Digital magic.

A.P. We both came from supertoxic relationships, from which we had come out very burned. And without knowing how, I followed him on Instagram, without any intention, and I saw that he did it too... And I thought, "Go, look how nice." Before I had already followed him, but my ex had forced me to stop doing it to all the athletic guys.

B.C. On the same day we thought of each other and followed each other.

A.P. Benjamin saw me at the Olympics, five years after our first meeting, and realized I was already a woman. I saw him on the track, but it was all super uncomfortable because I was putting little eyes in front of my ex... Horrible. We don't talk. Only crosses of glances. I was intoxicated by my relationship and wasn't able to get out of that wheel. But in the end, we both managed to get out of our toxic relationships at the same time. And my goal of remaining single for at least a year went to hell. I was only there for 15 days. Although in heart and mind she had been alone for a long time.

And here we are, in 2023. Now what?

A.P. I aspire to everything. I have a lot of self-love and talent, although the Ana of today is not talent, it is work. Eight months ago I would have told you that my goal was to reach the World Cup, right now I tell you that my goal is to fight for medals. I trust myself a lot, I trust my doctor, Crys [Dyaz, her coach], my team, my physiotherapists... Whatever comes out I'm going to be proud. Because on December 20 I was in a bed with a C-section on top. And thinking that the year was gone. But here I am; There are no impossibles for people who fight.

B.C. My goal is to enjoy, give my best and feel proud as a father. Physically I feel better than last year, which was complicated because my coach, who was like my father, died of cancer. And also because of the pains I had, which I did not know where they came from and which turned out to be because of the toxic relationship I had. In any case this year the medals are important, but the family is more important. It is a good motivation, to fight to find a better future. I am very proud of Ana. I think we're two fighters and we bring a lot to each other.

A.P. We are totally different and that makes us work very well as a team. There is no envy, we always feel very proud of each other's achievements. Our main focus is our family. And look for another baby in five years, hahaha (let's see if I deceive him ...).

* DIGITAL TECHNICIAN Juan Martínez PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT Sandra Angstadt STYLING ASSISTANT Andrés Martín MAKEUP AND HAIRDRESSING Yos Baute ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Hotel Hyatt Thompson (Madrid).

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