You train for hours and years for a competition,
and in two minutes, you have to show them everything.
I was programmed for competition.
There's no second chance in rhythmic gymnastics.
It is now or forever.
If they dropped a club, a hoop,
it was over.
The hoop exercise was really hard.
Yes, the hoops are hard!
Passing through the hoop...
We called it the fan, right? Yes, the fan we called it for sure.
OK, girls, did you listen to our advice?
Yes!
Never forget it!
When it gets hard, never forget it!
There will be days like this as you all know.
You've had it before and you'll continue to have it!
Thanks again for your tribute. We loved it!
Thanks!
For many gymnasts,
"Las Niñas de Oro" are a reference.
When athletes begin
practising a sport it's often because they've seen someone,
they imitate someone.
- How are you, girls? - Super!
At that time, we were just kids.
They accepted giving up their families, friends,
and childhoods to join the team.
They knew it would be for three or four years, - no longer.
The younger you are, the more you accept gymnastics
as a joy.
If you see young girls in a rhythmic gymnastics hall,
they will surely grab the ribbon first and start trying.
It's a play. It's a joy.
For someone who knows nothing about rhythmic gymnastics,
it's all about art and the body.
Control in handling the rope, hoop,
ball, ribbon, and clubs.
You need to know how to work
with the music and apparatuses,
the leotards, the staging... It's a performance.
In competition, at the slightest error,
you lose it all.
It is now or forever.
It's nice!
But once the team was formed,
we instantly all had the same goal
and trained for a common purpose.
We became sisters. We lived and trained together.
Hello. Ready, girls?
I lived with them and was very severe.
I watched them in case they ate anything.
At the time, we had to be weighed every day.
I find that unhealthy.
- What's going on? - Nothing
What do you mean "nothing"?
It's dangerous because
some gymnasts could become obsessed.
When you're a young athlete,
you don't realise the sacrifices you're making.
From January to the Olympics,
they stopped studying, they forgot about eveything else.
They were like closing nuns.
They trained seven to eight hours a day.
They only went from home to the stadium
and from the stadium to home, to train.
I was given this wonderful opportunity
and tried to make the most of it.
We then had a difficult month.
But Lorena worked very hard.
You'd think we'd
trained together for four years.
The daily routine made us keep on training and we never
thought that we couldn't go to the Olympic Games.
I never imagined we wouldn't
be taking part in the Olympic Games.
At the time,
the most impressive teams
were Russia and Bulgaria.
You train for hours
and years for a single competition,
and in two minutes, you must show them everything.
Spain had to make up
for its lack of physical allure
by adding difficulty.
Team Spain's performance was on the edge all the time.
If they dropped a club, a hoop, it was over.
Everyone told me, "Emilia,
"there are too many risky elements in your exercises."
But that was the secret of my success - risk!
Risk was the reason I succeeded!
The composition and execution fused together so perfectly.
We made two masterpieces.
Come on, girls! Now it's not on us.
You couldn't have done it better!
It was no longer in their hands.
They needed Russia or Bulgaria to make a mistake.
Then, you think, "That's it.
"It's over! We did it!
"I have the Olympic Medal!
"The medal we'd fought so hard for, the training,
"the life far from our families..."
It was all worth it because
I had the Olympic medal.
Look at you in this one, Estela!
Oh, my God! Look at my face!
Only today do we realise what we accomplished.
The importance of representing your country,
that medal, what it meant and represented.
Back then, we weren't aware of what we'd accomplished.
The medal only lasts that brief moment you're on the podium.
What remains is what the sport taught you.
That's the most important thing.
It's a unique experience that will unite us forever.
It will never be forgotten. It will always be there.