Michelle Alonso retires from high competition

MADRID, 22 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish swimmer Michelle Alonso, triple Paralympic champion of the 100-meter breaststroke, will end her stage in high competition and this has been officially communicated to the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE), the organization announced on Thursday.

The 28-year-old from Tenerife has been one of the great stars of Spanish Paralympic swimming and no one could beat her at the Paralympics in London, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo, where she was crowned the 'queen' of the 100-meter breaststroke of class SB14 for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Alonso, nicknamed 'The Little Mermaid', had already announced last Monday, during the Sports Gala of the Sports Press Association of Tenerife due to her reticent problems in her right shoulder, which do not prevent her from continuing to swim, but in the high competition. "I will continue swimming, but already elite, I'm sorry, but I can't, it has been a very difficult decision for me, really," she confessed.

In addition to her Paralympic gold medals, Alonso, champion at the Opening Ceremony together with cyclist Ricardo Ten in Tokyo 2020, was also a triple world champion, with her last conquest a few months ago in Madeira (Portugal) and despite also suffering a strange chlorine allergy.

Always under the tutelage of José Luis Guadalupe, 'Guada', the coach who has forged her since she was a child and made her one of the best in the world, first at Ademi Tenerife and then at Midayu, the Canarian retires as the current world record holder for the 100 breaststroke, with a time of 1:12.02 with which she was crowned for the third time in Tokyo. She also has the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, a recognition granted to her by the Higher Sports Council in 2013.

"The CPE thanks Michelle for everything she has given to Spanish Paralympic sport, which has meant the dissemination of Paralympic sport and the normalization of the social image of Paralympic athletes and people with disabilities in general and athletes with intellectual disability in particular," the agency said in a statement.

The committee also wanted to highlight that "above sport, successes and medals are always people" and for this reason that "it will continue by the side" of the swimmer from Tenerife, "helping her complete recovery from injury".