Spanish legend Ona Carbonell has announced at 32 that she is retiring.
Spaniard Ona Carbonell, the most decorated swimmer in the history of the synchronized swimming world championships with 23 podiums, announced Friday at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee that she was taking her retirement from sport at the age of 32.
“Sports retirement is always difficult, when it is not traumatic. I feel lucky. Announcing my retirement fills me with a thousand emotions, but I do it in a serene, thoughtful and grateful way.“, she said Friday, in the presence in particular of José Manuel France, president of the Superior Council of Sports.
Throughout her career, this mother of two children has become a figure in the fight for the defense of the rights of athletes who want to combine the life of a top athlete and motherhood. For example, she headed the commissionmaternity and sportswithin the Spanish Olympic Committee.
Beyond her 23 world medals and her twelve European medals, Carbonell also won two charms at the London Games in 2012: silver in duet and bronze in teams with her teammates from the Spanish selection.