Portuguese national team gymnasts Filipa Martins, Mariana Pitrez, and Beatriz Cardoso took part at a Portuguese talk show “O Programa da Cristina”.
They talked about the challenges of being elite gymnasts in Portugal and about their preparation for the World Championships.
Translation from Portuguese by Pedro C.
Mariana Pitrez: I’ve been doing artistic gymnastics since I was 4 years old, it’s my biggest passion and I haven’t stop until today [Pitrez is 20 years old]. I had my first international competition was 13 years old. Competing abroad gave me more adrenaline and a will to do better, to learn more. Going to the European Championships and World Championships make me better and even more motivated. In my life, the medal podium has always been present, but, of course, sometimes things don’t go well, and I don’t make the podium, it’s very disappointing and I start thinking what if trained more or what if I did something different. There are always lots of “ifs”. The coaches are very important and give us tremendous support. They are our second parents because we are at practice or at college. When we lose, they are there, when we win or get a new element, they are also there to congratulate us. The training is always hard because of the schedule and mental load. Every week, we train in the morning for 2 hours and then for 3 hours in the afternoon, plus on Saturday, we always train for 3 hours. What makes a good gymnast? Training. Without it, we can’t get anywhere. My life is, without a doubt, gymnastics. Of course, when in college, my friends ask me if I want to go out at night, and I always have to answer “No, I have a practice”, and I had to learn how to deal with it and chose what I really want in my life. Gymnastics is a big part of my heart and a passion I’ll have until the end of my days.
Q: You know that I like to bring to the show diversity and everything that deserves our support. We don’t have any idea of the work you have to get to this level.
Mariana Pitrez: That’s true. We work many hours a day, from a very young age to reach the level that we have now.
Q: And you have loads of thing to do! You didn’t just skip college, you are now at the university. [Pitrez is studying Environment Sciences, Martins is studying sports and Cardoso is in high school].
Mariana Pitrez: Yes, I do have to study, sadly in this country we can’t live off gymnastics.
Q: You can’t, can you?
Mariana Pitrez: No, in Portugal we don’t have the support and it’s very hard on our body…
Q: What motivates you? The pleasure to represent your country?
Mariana Pitrez: Yes, the feeling of having the word Portugal written on our back, we feel like we take all Portuguese people with us. As little as we do… We do our best… And we try to go out there and do better than before.
Q: I can’t imagine being in college from 9 am to 5 pm and work out the rest of the day.
Mariana Pitrez: We train every day for 3 hours and twice a week for 2 hours in the morning.
Q: And can you eat all you want?
All three: No!
Q: Really? Do you have a strict diet?
Filipa Martins: Yes! We must be very careful with our diet because all our job is related to our body. So, if we eat too much, we can’t perform the skills the same way. It’s hard to carry our bodies.
Q: Oh my… I can’t even do a cartwheel with my hand on the floor. And with that… Don’t you just break an arm or something?
Beatriz Cardoso: Sometimes, but with the support we have, we can heal quickly and go back to training.
Q: When is the next competition?
Mariana Pitrez: The 3 of us have 3 more competitions until the end of the year. In 2 weeks we will have Paris World Cup and then the Guimarães World Cup.
Q: It is better to compete in Portugal, isn’t it?
Mariana Pitrez: Yes! It’s always special. And we finish our year in October at the World Championships where Filipa will try to qualify to the Olympic Games.
