Adrián Díaz and Olivia Smart, the couple that emerged from two breakups: "You have to get along, if it doesn't get hard"

• LUCAS SAEZ-BRAVO

  @LucasSaezBravo

Updated Thursday, February 10, 2022-18:28

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"Once you break up with one, let's see how you find another..." jokes

(Barcelona, ​​1990) when he listens to himself explaining the bizarre genesis of his relationship with

(Sheffield, England, 1997) , with which he forms the pair of skaters that will represent Spain in dance at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Because everything has whimsical parallels with that of a romantic relationship.

Ruptures, winks of fate, personal feeling.

From Montreal, on the other side of the screen, days before leaving for China, they both remember those days at the end of 2015 where it all began.

A long road of more than six years with a happy ending.

They present themselves to the Olympic event after smashing three Spanish records (rhythmic, free and total dance), with their minds set on the 200-point barrier, which would directly lead them to a diploma, an

for Spanish skating beyond by

.

Adrián and Olivia got the ticket to Beijing just a couple of weeks ago at the European Championships in Tallinn (they were fourth, another milestone), after a year of fratricidal struggle with the other Spanish couple, the one made up of

: "No we are precisely friends, but the competition with them has made us better".

With Sara Adrián went to Sochi 2014 (12th), a year before she announced in a statement that she was breaking up... and Adrián was left in the lurch.

"I also had just broken up with my partner that summer, I was training alone in Detroit. It's very difficult to find someone with a similar level, who has experience. There are very few free guys. I wasn't sure I was going to find someone, I didn't have many expectations, I even thought that my skating career could end," says Olivia, who decided to write to Adrián without hardly knowing him, who in a week was planted in Montreal - there he trains Spanish since 2011, with the world elite of skating-, to try...

Question.-

And how was it?

Adrián.-

All quite natural and fast as both have basic English techniques.

The coaches saw that the lines, the pushes and everything was right.

It was already a question of our feeling, if we felt like it, if we liked each other as people.

And everything worked.

Taking her back to the airport, I said, 'When could you come over?'

She stayed at home for three months, she had to sleep on the sofa until she found a flat.

There was only one problem now, Olivia's English nationality, who had even competed internationally alongside

.

They got to work and in 2017 she already had her new passport, with one more surname.

"It was quick and easy. I am grateful to the Federation and the Spanish Olympic Committee. It is not always easy if your partner is from another country, to be able to compete together representing the same".

Q.-

Do you hesitate, do you like Spain?

Olivia.-

Being from England, I have spent many holidays with my family in Spain.

I know many places, especially on the beach.

Ibiza is one of my favourites.

I haven't been to Madrid much and to Barcelona only a couple of times and very quickly.

I hope I can do it this year.

Q.-

What do you expect from your Olympic debut?

O.-

I ask Adrián many things, I'm curious, but I want him to surprise me when he arrives.

I am happy because we will be able to enjoy the opening ceremony.

And I want to meet the other Spanish athletes.

That's when I think I'll realize how big the Games are.

Seeing the flag wave at the opening ceremony is going to be special, exciting.

Q.-

What is more important, the personal or the sports connection?

A.-

Both things are necessary.

There are teams that reach the top together, but you notice that they don't get along.

Q.-

And how is your relationship?

A.-

It took us a while to understand how we function on the ice, but also to get to know each other.

We are very different.

She likes to explore more, go out and meet people.

I have been in Montreal for many years and in winter, when a little snow falls, I go into the house and no one takes me out.

I have a partner (the runner-up in the world

) and I lead a slightly different life.

We have a team of coaches and mental coaches who help us to carry out the training sessions better.

Q.-

What is the most difficult?

A.-

It is not easy to push your body to the maximum every day, especially at certain times, with so much fatigue.

That leads to bringing out the bad in you.

You have to learn not to take it personally, to control your attitude.

You have to get along, if you can't do it very hard.

Q.-

And on the ice?

O.-

The characters, the part of being an actor and an athlete at the same time every day.

It is natural for us to transform into ice, but if you are tired or it is a very early training, expressing these feelings costs more.

A.-

In the program the most difficult parts are usually the elevations, the boys have a harder time.

And that of being an actor while doing sports.

It is the difference between dance and other disciplines.

Here you have to express a story, interpret with someone.

O.-

In other sports, while you suffer climbing a mountain or running a marathon, you don't have to be smiling.

They don't focus on their face, nor do they have their hair done and full of makeup;

they focus on their technique, on their effort.

Q.-

How would you describe each other?

A.-

Olivia is a body full of energy, you can see her youth.

In that we understand each other very well, because it already costs me a few days.

We make a good balance.

She reminds me how nice it is to do some crazy things sometimes, not follow the rules, enjoy.

She is a very good skater, one of the strongest.

And she is a very good person.

O.-

Thank you for what I have understood [she still does not speak Spanish fluently].

I agree with that, Adrián is the perfect balance for me, both as an athlete and as a person.

We are very disciplined on the ice, but off the ice we talk a lot, we have common interests.

Adrián is a family man, I feel like his little sister, protected from him.

He gives me security and energy.

And at the same time it is very funny.

I have a good relationship with his girlfriend and I am sure that in the future we will maintain it.

Because Adrián and Olivia take Beijing as if it were the penultimate time together (in March they compete in the Montpellier World Cup).

"I don't see another Olympic cycle, I need a break," concludes the Barcelonan, on his way to 32 years.

Tina Turner and 'The Mask of Fox'

Next Saturday, February 12 (12:00 Spanish time), at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, Adrián and Olivia will execute the short program at the Winter Games.

With the electrifying version of 'Proud Mary' by

They will seek to excite the judges -not the public, since the pandemic has forced restrictions on the stands- and a score above 80 points in rhythmic dance.

On the 14th (2:15 a.m. in Spain), in the long or free program, they will perform 'The mask of the fox', in search of 120 for a total of 200, "the barrier to be knocked down." The current record in Spain is they settled in the Tallinn European in 196.86.

"That directly puts us seventh or eighth. We are missing some technical touch-ups, we are going to fight it," Adrián Díaz is encouraged, who exposes the virtues of the couple: "We have done everything: pasodoble, 'Grease', we have skidded history of love between a clown and a dancer, tango, contemporary dance... We're not good at a specific style, that's why we don't repeat.

That has its advantages and disadvantages.

If you get the music right, like this year, fine.

If you don't reach both the judges and the public, the worse."

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