Biography of Mireia

Belmonte Spanish
swimmer
Biography of Mireia Belmonte García a Spanish swimmer who is an Olympic
champion, world champion and European champion.

Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation.

Merits of this Spanish swimmer

She started competing internationally when she was 17 years old. Ten years later, she
had won 22 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 7 bronze medals.

In total, she won 44 medals participating in 3 Olympic Games, 6 World Championships

and 8 European Championships.

Mireia Belmonte gracefully wears her well-deserved medal. Credit: photonec.com

Mireia Belmonte competes in the style, butterfly and free categories.

It has been said that she is the best swimmer in history.

Mireia Belmonte in 2009. Credit: Morenobj
To her excellent physical qualities she has added extraordinary will power and mental
development.

Beginning of Mireia Belmonte’s career

All this, reinforced by having always had family support. In addition, she had
excellent coaches: Jordi Murio, Carles Subirana, Michael Piper, Fred Vernoux.

She currently belongs to the “UCAM Club Natación Fuensanta“, a club attached to the
Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia.

At this university she studies a Degree in Advertising and Public Relations.

The great Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte, in the Club de

Murcia. Credit: Harpagornis
The first years of this extraordinary swimmer
Mireia Belmonte García was born in Badalona on November 10, 1990. Her father,
José Belmonte, is originally from a town in Granada.
Her mother, Francisca García, is a native of a town in Jaén.

When Mireia was 4 years old, the doctor recommended that the girl
practice swimming, because she had scoliosis.

For this reason, her parents enrolled her in the “Badalona Swimming Club”. Over time,
the great Mireia Belmonte’s sports career began there.

In 2003, her swimming potentials were evident. She obtained a scholarship from the
Catalan Swimming Federation for the “High Performance Center of San Cugat del
Vallés“.

The San Cugat High Performance Center, founded in 1987. Credit: Arkaplan

Swimming coaches of Mireia Belmonte
The prestigious coach Jordi Murio was in charge of training her and helping her to
give the best of herself.

Before long, she was signed by the “Club Natació L’Hospitalet“, in which she remained
for 6 years. Later, Mireia Belmonte was signed by the “Sabadell Swimming Club” for
the 2007-2008 season.
Jordi Murio, the Best Coach of the Year 2010, flanked by the European medalists
Duane de Rocha and Melanie Costa. Credit: RFEN
After Jordi Murio, Mireia Belmonte’s coach was Carles Subirana.

In 2009, she went on to train at the “Sabadell Swimming Club”. She was under the
command of Michael Piper; and later she trained with Fred Vernoux.

Mireia Belmonte in 2014. Credit: Juan Carlos Morán, Luciano Insúa.

Participations in competitive swimming
The full sports dedication of this young Spanish swimmer is evident in the fact that
in three years she participated, with excellent results, in seven high-level international
competitions:

1. In 2006, she was proclaimed Junior World Champion in 400 m freestyle and

400 m styles. Was 16 years old.

2. She was also the Junior European Champion in 200 m freestyle and 400 m
styles.
3. In 2007, she reached 2nd place in 400 m styles in the European Short Pool
Swimming Championship.

4. On March 21, 2008, in the European Swimming Championship, she won the

women’s 200 m individual final. In addition, she won the bronze medal in the
200 m butterfly.

5. On April 9, 2008 at the World Short Pool Championship, she achieved the

bronze medal in 400 m styles.

6. On August 9, 2008, she became an Olympic swimmer at the 2008 Beijing

Olympics. She competed in the 200 m breaststroke, 200 m and 400 m styles
events. She was also part of the 4×100 style relay from Spain. She set
the record for Spain in 400 m styles. However, she could only be ranked 14th,
the same position she achieved in all 200 m styles.

7. On December 14, 2008, she broke the world record for 400 m short pool styles.

And she hung the gold medal at the Rijeka (Croatia) European Short Pool
Championships.

At 18 years old, Mireia had 10 years of hard training and led by excellent coaches.

The years of her great swimming triumphs

She was ready for another 10 years of great triumphs. that placed her in the elite of
world swimming.
Mireia Belmonte champion in 200 meters butterfly style. Credit: Harpagornis
From 2010 to 2013, the successes achieved for her and for Spanish swimming were
resounding and numerous:

 December 2010: Introduced to the Dubai Short Pool World Cup. She

won three golds: 200 m butterfly, 200 m styles and 400 m styles and one silver
in the 800 m freestyle.

 April 2011: in the XII Spanish Championship, she achieved the best world

mark of the year in 400 m styles and a new record for Spain, as well as another
record for Spain in the 200 m butterfly.

 December 2011: at the Eindhoven Open in the Netherlands, she won the 800

m freestyle event, beating the record for Spain.

 March 2012: at the British Open in London, she competed in the swimming

events: 400 m freestyle, 800 m freestyle, 200 m butterfly, 200 m styles, 400 m
styles and in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay.
 In August 2012, at the London Olympics, she achieved silver in the 200 m
butterfly and silver medal in the 800 m freestyle. She became the best Spanish
Olympic swimmer, as she had been the only one to win two Olympic
medals and in the same Games.

Mireia sports activities from 2013

At the beginning of 2013, after four months of inactivity, she announced her transfer to
the “Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia”.
In this prestigious university center she combined her studies in “Business
Administration and Management” with sports activities in the “Fuensanta UCAM”
club.

But she kept training at the “Sabadell Swimming Club” in Barcelona.

Between July 27 and August 4, 2013, the “Absolute Swimming World

Championship” was held in Barcelona.

Mireia Belmonte competed as a host and participated in six events during the eight days
of the championship. She won 2 silver and 1 bronze medals:

– She won a silver medal in the 200 m butterfly.

– Obtained silver medal in the 400 m styles.

– Conquered a bronze medal in the 200 m style event.

On August 5, she was honored in her native Badalona, and acclaimed by hundreds of

fans and decorated by the Mayor of the city.
Club Sabadell, founded in 1916, has about 25,000 members. Credit: Vetranio
On December 12, 2013, at the “European Short Pool Swimming Championship” (25
meters) held in Herning (Denmark), Mireia won the gold medal in the 200 m butterfly
test, breaking the continental record.

The next day, she won a new gold medal in the 800 m freestyle event. In that final,
she defeated local hero Lotte Friis.

In December 2014, in the “World Short Swimming Pool Championship” held in

Doha (Qatar), she obtained a gold medal in 200 m butterfly and another gold medal in
400 meters styles.

In addition, she achieved separate world records with substantial discounts of the
brands. She was the first swimmer in the world to drop below 2 minutes in the 200 m
butterfly.
Mireia Belmonte always competes to win. Credit: photonec.com
A shoulder injury forced her to go several months without competing. Due to that,
Mireia was unable to participate in the 2015 World Swimming Championships played
in Russia.

On August 10, 2016, she participated in the “Rio 2016 Olympic Games”. She achieved
a historic victory: the gold medal in 200 m butterfly and the bronze medal in 400m
styles.

Mireia Belmonte first Spanish Olympic

champion in swimming
With this result, Mireia Belmonte became the first Spanish woman to be proclaimed
Olympic champion in swimming.

Along with Teresa Perales, Mireia Belmonte is one of the most notable Spanish
athletes in swimming.

In the “XVII World Swimming Championship in Budapest“, she participated

in six events in the eight days of the championship.

She was proclaimed for the first time in her career, world champion in 200 m butterfly.

This gold medal was added to the ones she had already won in this category, in 2013
(in Denmark), in 2014 (in Qatar) and in 2016 (at the Rio Olympics).

Her spectacular triumph was crowned with two silver medals in the 1,500 m freestyle
and 400 m style events. At the end of this Budapest championship, she went home
with three metals.
Mireia Belmonte with the Spanish swimmer Jessica Val, specialized in breaststroke
style, and Bachelor of Biomedicine. Credit: Harpagornis
On August 12, 2017, in the “Short Pool World Cup”, held in Eindhoven
(Netherlands), she broke the world record for short pool in 400 m styles.

On this glorious occasion, Mireia Belmonte snatched the universal record of 4: 19.46

that her great rival, Katinka Hosszu, had since 2015.

Considering this brilliant record since she debuted in Beijing at the age of 17, it is not
surprising that Mireia Belmonte has received numerous distinctions and decorations at
the regional and national level.

All of these honors are more than deserved.

It is possible to read a lot of information about Mireia Belmonte on the internet. Some
of these websites are: “Search biographies”, “Who is who”, “Mireia Belmonte’s
personal website“.

In the 20th century, there have been numerous Spanish women who began to make
headlines in the sports world. Among them: Edurne
Pasabán (mountaineer), Almudena Cid (gymnastics), Carolina Marín (badminton)
and Teresa Perales (Paralympic swimming).

Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation.

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TAGS: ATHLETES SPANISH SWIMMER

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