'Your future is in you': Training with Miriam Casillas
"With work and effort, dreams come true"
Triathlete Miriam Casillas participated in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games only one year after starting to compete, and has qualified for the postponed Tokyo Games. At the age of 12, Carmen Tamames also dreams of travelling the world competing in this sport. Iberdrola has brought them together for one day of training.
Miriam Casillas shows her medal to Carmen Tamames during her day with 'Your Future Is in You'. Video voice transcription
Miriam's qualification for Rio coincided with her degree in medicine. A year earlier, she received the Podium Scholarship for promising Olympians, as well as recognition for the best promising athlete at the I Women in Sport and Business Awards. She believes that "with work and effort, dreams come true", and this is what she tries to instil in Carmen Tamames, a young triathlete who started this sport when she was 9 years old.
"I needed to burn off some energy", explains Carmen, who admits that she had always wanted to meet Miriam. "At home my parents got mad because I moved around too much". Casillas says she had a problem with scoliosis. "The doctor recommended swimming. I was forced to do that part and I could also ride a bike and run which is what I really liked to do at that time".
An equal sport
Triathlon is one of the most equal sports that exist, since both men and women compete under the same conditions, without different distances, prizes or recognition. Which is why it is very popular among women and more and more women are taking part in it. Therefore, Casillas says that when she started, there were very few women in her club, unlike Carmen's, where there are "the same amount of girls as boys".
Casillas appreciates the visibility offered by companies such as Iberdrola, since "by making ourselves known we are making women's sport stand out". And it's rewarding for her to meet girls like Carmen who want to follow in her footsteps. "If at least one more person in the world starts playing sports because of me, I think that's what I'm going to take with me when I stop being a triathlete".
After a full day of training, the veteran is convinced that Carmen Tamames will be able to achieve whatever she wants: "You've shown me all day today that you're capable of getting a medal like this," she says, showing her the one she won at the World Cup, "and anything else you set your mind to".
'Your future is in you': Creating role models for women in sport
Future Is in You is an initiative by Iberdrola that allows young sportswomen to spend a day training with one of their idols. The company therefore reinforces its objective of creating female role models in society and promoting the empowerment of women through sport, as well as encouraging healthy habits from an early age.
Iberdrola is the main driver of women's sport in Spain. Through the Women's Universe program from the National Sports Council, the company supports 16 sports federations (gymnastics, triathlon, rugby, canoeing, badminton, football, hockey, volleyball, table tennis, athletics, karate, boxing, surfing, ice sports and fencing), lending its name to 22 leagues, all at the top level, and it also provides backing to another 35 competitions.