Ana Peleteiro: “As long as I continue dreaming of being an Olympic champion, there is Peleteiro for a while”

The Spanish athlete Ana Peleteiro assured that “there is Peleteiro for a while”, as long as “she continues to have the desire to improve and dream of being an Olympic champion”, before the birth of her second child, León, defending that she has been “better after giving birth than before.”

“Motivation is the driving force that keeps me with so much enthusiasm even in a sport that I have been practicing for 25 years of my life. It is complicated, because I have been an athlete all my life and not finding that motivation is something that can happen and in fact happens to many people. Setting goals helps me keep that motivation latent,” the athlete expressed in an interview with Women’s Health collected by Europa Press.

The Galician announced that she has “set the goal of jumping 15 meters for many seasons,” but she has not achieved it. “And that’s not why disappointment or demotivation comes, but rather the desire to try again. And as long as I continue to have that desire to continue improving and dream of being an Olympic champion, I believe that there will be Peleteiro for a while,” she said.

The athlete insisted that a pregnancy does not mean the retirement of an athlete, something that “they always took for granted” in her case. “And I showed with Lua that no. That I returned and returned to my best level, staying 3 centimeters away from the Spanish record, becoming European champion twice, Olympic finalist, third in the world, and already being strong in the major championships. I have really been better after giving birth than before,” commented the European outdoor champion in 2024.

“The day I stop liking it and prefer to dedicate myself 100% to my children full time, I will do so, but for now that time has not come. And it does not mean that you are an athlete and that you do not dedicate yourself 100% to your children. In other words, I think that today it is totally compatible to do both things, work and be a mother or father,” he added, before León is born.

Peleteiro reiterated that she continues to “be just as motivated,” and claimed that “just because you give birth, your body is no longer useful.” “In fact, I have achieved much better levels of speed and strength after giving birth than before. But my example has to be that of all women. There are also women who give birth and don’t want to know anything more about sport, because they want to focus on their motherhood, on their children, and it is legal, they have every right in the world. But I love my case, my job,” she added.

In addition, she confessed that she considered competing in Madrid 2025 even when she was pregnant. “But in the end, I thought it wasn’t fair, neither for me, nor for the baby, nor for the teammate who could have the opportunity to compete with Spain in a European Cup. So, that’s why I decided to retire and I was criticized a lot,” he recalled.

“That’s also why I had to say before that I was pregnant, because they were saying atrocious things about me. And it was something that hurt me a lot, because someone doubts that I don’t enjoy going with the national team, when my best version has always been with the Spanish team… And it’s the only way in which I motivate myself. When I wear the bodysuit and represent my country. But since I haven’t been able to get rid of the thorn in Madrid, well, I would like to go to Valencia,” she defended.

Peleteiro, 30, is enjoying her pregnancy “without aesthetic demands.” “I think that a lot is demanded of women during pregnancies on an aesthetic level, and of athletes who decide to be mothers, even more. So I have flowed a lot and I have no expectations either in the pregnancy or in the face of childbirth or the postpartum,” she commented.

“Having an abortion, mine was in week 9, until you go through it, you are not aware of how painful it is. Because it is not the weeks of the baby that mark the pain, it is that you are already aware that you are going to be a mother again. And respecting each stage of that grief, I managed to manage it,” she said about the abortion between her first and third pregnancies.