Spain pins synchro hopes on new coach
Source: Agencies |
July 19, 2013, Friday
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SPAIN'S new synchronized swimming coach faces the tough task of replacing the woman who transformed the team into a world power.
Under former coach Anna Tarres, Spain went from having never won a medal to claiming four in the Olympics and 23 more in the world championships before her tactics left her jobless and the team adrift.
After Spain won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 Olympics, Tarres looked poised to guide her squad to another medal haul at this year's world championships, which start today in her home city of Barcelona.
Yet despite Spain's stratospheric rise from no-name to contender, Tarres was deposed after 15 years last September when the Spanish swimming federation decided not to renew her contract beyond 2012 due to "technical reasons and sports policy."
That sparked a crisis that included a lawsuit by Tarres against the federation, 15 former swimmers accusing Tarres of systematic verbal abuse, and Spain's then captain, Andrea Fuentes, announcing her retirement while defending Tarres' straight talk as necessary for forging a winning team.
Esther Jauma, a former Spain team member who later worked on Tarres' coaching staff, was hired to take her place and over the past 10 months has had to refocus her swimmers on the challenge of building on the success her predecessor.
"Yes, there is pressure, but I have full confidence in my swimmers," Jauma said at her team's year-round training facility near Barcelona. "One of the things I have always believed in is that the athletes must be the center of attention. The work of the coaching staff is important, but in the end the athletes are the ones who have to go out there and perform."
In an open letter, a group of 15 former team members called Tarres a "dictator" who controlled her team through "threats, false promises, coercion, humiliation, insults, abuse, manipulation and a lack of respect."
Tarres has denied she abused her swimmers.
Meanwhile, Jauma said she was "convinced" her coaching style can lead to success.
"My methods are totally different," she said. "I believe in a methodology in which the girls work hard and very intensely but that they also feel comfortable."
Under former coach Anna Tarres, Spain went from having never won a medal to claiming four in the Olympics and 23 more in the world championships before her tactics left her jobless and the team adrift.
After Spain won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 Olympics, Tarres looked poised to guide her squad to another medal haul at this year's world championships, which start today in her home city of Barcelona.
Yet despite Spain's stratospheric rise from no-name to contender, Tarres was deposed after 15 years last September when the Spanish swimming federation decided not to renew her contract beyond 2012 due to "technical reasons and sports policy."
That sparked a crisis that included a lawsuit by Tarres against the federation, 15 former swimmers accusing Tarres of systematic verbal abuse, and Spain's then captain, Andrea Fuentes, announcing her retirement while defending Tarres' straight talk as necessary for forging a winning team.
Esther Jauma, a former Spain team member who later worked on Tarres' coaching staff, was hired to take her place and over the past 10 months has had to refocus her swimmers on the challenge of building on the success her predecessor.
"Yes, there is pressure, but I have full confidence in my swimmers," Jauma said at her team's year-round training facility near Barcelona. "One of the things I have always believed in is that the athletes must be the center of attention. The work of the coaching staff is important, but in the end the athletes are the ones who have to go out there and perform."
In an open letter, a group of 15 former team members called Tarres a "dictator" who controlled her team through "threats, false promises, coercion, humiliation, insults, abuse, manipulation and a lack of respect."
Tarres has denied she abused her swimmers.
Meanwhile, Jauma said she was "convinced" her coaching style can lead to success.
"My methods are totally different," she said. "I believe in a methodology in which the girls work hard and very intensely but that they also feel comfortable."
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