Laura Gil, the injuries and insults: "They were harsh comments. I had to turn off all my cell phones and social networks"

The case of Laura Gil (Murcia, 1992) is that of an unlikely legend of Spanish basketball. A center not too tall (192 centimeters), without (apparently) much offensive talent and with a career in which she has had to overcome, in addition to insults and scorn, the two most serious injuries: a cruciate and a broken Achilles. To her the obstacles and the rivals that are a head taller than her. “I enjoy a good defense or a good block,” he boasts.. This week he will exceed 150 international matches, in search of his third Games in the Pre-Olympic Games that Spain is playing in Sopron (against Japan, Canada and Hungary as rivals, three tickets for four), also on the way to his ninth medal, the 17th if those from lower categories are added. And in this too, no one like her.

“I don't brag about it. But let it serve to vindicate my type of game, which doesn't look as good.. I am known for defense, for effort, sacrifice…. “but it also takes a little talent to get where I've gotten, right?” he tells EL MUNDO from the Spanish concentration in Madrid, which has also been joined by the naturalized Megan Gustafson (previously they were Sancho Lyttle, Astou Ndour…), a pivot to help where presumably the team always has fewer arguments. Although that doesn't stop Laura from grating a little: “It is always said that Spain's internal game is with tweezers, but in the end every summer we compete for the top.”. “We will have something.”

Gil studies Psychology and throughout her career she has had to apply it to herself, hard moments from which she always emerged triumphant.. When in the last Tokyo Games Spain was eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, she, unlucky on the field, was the easy target of the networks. “It was hard, because I let all those comments touch me. We are athletes, but we are also people. And there are people who still don't have it very clear. We are the first ones who want to win. I was touched at a time when I was low on confidence and it affected me.. I did a reset. I had to turn off all cell phones and social networks. And the next season I started from scratch,” he admits.

The next wall was not easy either, this time physical: a year and a half ago he broke his Achilles when his contract with Valencia had already ended.. Laura came to think that this was the end. “When I broke…. Phew, it was a click. I didn't know what I was going to do or where I was going to play or who was going to take my dog out.. The first concern was if I was going to walk again without pain, then run, jump…”, he recalls.. 10 months later, already recovered, she packed her bags and went to France to play. Soon, last summer, he was going to be the protagonist of Spain's silver in the Eurobasket, the first of the Miguel Méndez era.

Third stage in Salamanca

“I have always had a hard time getting my work seen, for many years it has been quite frustrating. I was there year after year, but my type of game was not valued. People who really understand basketball know the importance of good defense, good blocking, and good reading.. The simple fact that now there are girls who are starting to play and tell me that they notice me, regardless of where the lights are, is what matters most to me,” reflects Laura, now in her third stage at Perfumerías Avenida from Salamanca, with which she was European champion in 2011.

«Good weather, good orchard, lemons…. and that we are good people,” he jokes about the success of Murcian sport in recent times, of which he feels part.. The lights and highlights will not dwell too much on her and the rivals in the painting will rarely look at her from below.. But who would want Laura Gil to defend them? “The mentality comes as standard. But in the end the Spanish always wants to win at everything,” he concludes.