The controversy has reached the Spanish Pelota Federation at the gates of the celebration of the World Championship in Biarritz (October 23-29, 2022).
Lidia Simón,
from Alicante ,
sub'22 world champion in 2019 and winner of the absolute World Cup last year, denounced on her social networks that she had been left out of the French event due to her overweight.
"I do not agree with the ways or means with which the FEP has decided to leave me out of the selection. They
only argue this decision in that I have not met the weight and fat percentage objectives, and that it has not there has been an evolution in my work
", he assures in a letter published on his social networks.
"I am very surprised that this is the reason... in the end
it seems that their "performance indicators" reward aesthetics more than sports results
[...] They require us to meet a series of parameters [...] However, the reality is far from a lot, each one of us is treated differently, and not always for the better," he continues.
"
Weight should not be a determining factor or a stigma to separate an athlete from competition
, as long as their performance is adequate" [...] "The body of a woman changes and evolves differently in each one of us "[..]"
I feel discriminated against and I think they have been tremendously unfair to me, "he
says in his very long statement before announcing that he has decided" to resign from the Spanish team until there is a change in those who direct it and take the decisions".
The Federation's response
However, the Spanish Federation denied that Lidia Simón's exclusion was due to excess weight and rejected the accusation of discrimination in a statement.
"
We reject any act of discrimination, inequality
or contempt for women in any situation or sports area of this Federation," she says in one of her points.
"There are preparation criteria (technical-tactical, physical, psychological, anthropometry/somatometry, etc.), sports performance, discipline, compliance with programs and schedules, motivation, sportsmanship and contribution to group spirit" , develops on the selection of athletes.
The Federation of Pelota wants to make it clear that
"it is totally false that he has not been selected for not having given a body weight"
and gives as an example that in the selection "there is some athlete who has a fat percentage higher than the average of his specialty."
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