Sandra Sánchez, on the women's soccer team: "It's good to talk about something that is there, that exists"

When Sandra Sánchez (Talavera de la Reina, September 16, 1981) began in the world of karate, she did not imagine that she would end up becoming the best karate fighter in history, that she would achieve a Guinness Record and the triple crown (European, world and Olympic Games). Already retired, and days after releasing her documentary: Karate-do: The Path of Sandra Sánchez on Rakuten TV in which she shows her most complicated moments, she speaks to EL MUNDO, to tell how she has lived her entire professional career.

On Thursday the world will be able to get to know her a little more through her documentary, what will be seen? I think people only know Sandra's part of the competition, the training and the medals, but they will be able to see everything there is behind. Another part of Sandra, when things didn't go so well, when family and personally there were problems, and how Sandra had to reinvent herself to become the person I am. How was that reinvention? We have all gone through difficult times. When making this documentary I have had to remove many feelings that were kept in a box. There are very difficult moments in life, that I wish no one had to live through, that accumulated. However, now that I can look back and see who I have become, I see that everything passes and I feel proud that all of this did not make me a more apathetic or closed-in person.. I decided to see the beautiful and not give so much importance to what is not worth it. He left everything to be with his mother in a dedicated moment of health. I did not think he was abandoning the sport. I had had the opportunity to enter the High Performance Center in Madrid, but my family lives in Talavera.. I was going to return to Talavera because an illness like my mother's is very long, but what had made me get to the CAR, which was training with my teacher in Talavera, I was going to continue doing. In the end life has to go on. I didn't give it as much importance as it had, because I thought I was going to continue training and competing, but that I was going to be close to my mother. When he comes back, he does it with a great coach like Jesús del Moral. When I go back to the competition and I propose to Jesus that he train me, he tells me no many times and it took me a lot to convince him. He lived in Alcalá de Henares and I went there with my car every day to convince him. When I got it it was especially hard. I think he wanted to test myself to see that I wasn't going to fail him, but I always put up with his training with a smile. He has managed to be world number 1, a Guinness Record, gold at the Olympics, how has all this success come together? I had been losing for more than 20 years, I was very used to trying but staying there. And suddenly, with a lot of work, everything starts to work out, and to work out well.. You begin to have that recognition that was not just from that moment, but from the previous 20 years.. You feel proud to know that you didn't give up and I like to have the feeling that when I won a medal, it wasn't just for me, but for those who were believing in me. And when he starts to get on the podiums, he doesn't get off. It was so difficult for me to get there that I said: “No one will kick me out of here” (laughs). Despite winning, I always had the feeling that there were things to improve. You continually bring out details and, although I no longer compete, I continue trying to improve my karate. Is there anything left to do? Reality surpassed the dream. I remember that when I set my sights on the triple crown I thought that if I achieved it I would retire, because I believed that it was impossible and that I was going to fail in one of the championships.. But suddenly it becomes reality and you don't believe it. Sportingly I feel super fulfilled, but on a personal level I still want to improve and transmit karate. The time has come to retire. Was it difficult for you to make the decision? I had proposed it in 2021, if I won the triple crown, because I thought it was impossible and that I would be able to extend it, but when it happened I said that I still didn't want to retire. I extended it for another year, although I risked a setback, but I decided to do it, and I was able to mentally accept that withdrawal little by little. If in Paris 2024 karate were an Olympic discipline, would you have liked to compete in other Olympic Games? Yeah. If there had been Paris, I almost confirm that I would not have retired. Because it was also very close. It was a three-year Olympic cycle, which by the time of the world games was already only two. Two years at the sporting level go by very quickly. I am very sad that we are not here because it means that other generations will not experience something as incredible as what I have been able to experience. How have you seen something as great as winning a World Cup be overshadowed by something extra-sports? First of all, congratulations, What should be said and what should be read. Regarding the debate that has been opened, I think it is positive that there is talk about something that exists. Talking and debating makes us improve, and that is what we should get out of all this.