﻿{"id":431653,"date":"2020-05-12T04:02:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T11:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=431653"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:40:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:40:42","slug":"mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/","title":{"rendered":"Mireia Belmonte &#038; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Mireia Belmonte<\/strong>, Olympic 200m butterfly champion, open-water ace \u00a0<strong>Paula Ruiz<\/strong> and World junior champion <strong>Alba Vasquez<\/strong>, are among <strong>top swimmers in Spain who\u00a0<\/strong>had their hopes of a return to full training crushed by a <strong>Spanish Ministry of Health<\/strong> order last weekend that left swimming and swimming pools off the list of sports included in a&#8221;phase 1 COVID-19 [lockdown] de-escalation&#8221; plan.<\/p>\n<p>The<strong> Spanish Swimming Federation<\/strong> responded on Monday with a request to the Government to think again and mirror the move<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/pernille-blume-leads-41-top-danish-swimmers-back-to-training-after-talks-navigate-no-pools-until-august\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> seen in Denmark yesterday, when 41 &#8220;approved&#8221; elite swimmers were granted permission to return to training<\/a> in controlled conditions after intervention from the <strong>Danish Swimming Union<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Last Thursday, the Danish Government left swimmers in the fourth wave of a phased plan to reboot sport. It would have been August before Olympic teamsters could get back into home waters. The federation put the case for allowing elite swimmers back now in controlled conditions, including heightened hygiene standards, physical distancing, restrictions on numbers allowed into pools at any one time and specific cleaning practices that go beyond the standard.<\/p>\n<p>In Spain, the <strong>CAR training group at Sant Cugat<\/strong> had planned to open on Monday for Olympic team members or those with a strong shot at making the cut at rescheduled trials.<\/p>\n<p>In preparation for a re-opening, all swimmers of that standard in Barcelona and Madrid had taken COVID-19 tests and tested negative. In addition, measures such as only one swimmer per lane had been planned, with a minimum 2.5m distance possible between swimmers at all times, in chlorinated or treated water and out of it.<\/p>\n<p>The coach at Sant Cugat, <strong>Jordi Jou<\/strong>, with <strong>Jessica Vall, Joan Lluis Pons, Lid\u00f3n Mu\u00f1oz <\/strong>and <strong>Africa Zamorano<\/strong> among his charges, noted that in club situations distancing would be &#8220;more difficult because we interact with swimmers, age groupers and other members.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mireia Belmonte<\/strong>, World short-course record holder over 800m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 400m medley, is guided by Spain&#8217;s head coach\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swim-coaches-rudd-vergnoux-bolognani-chew-over-hopes-fears-in-nuotos-pool-bar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Fred Vergnoux<\/strong>, who recently took part in a podcast with Ireland&#8217;s performance director <strong>Jon Rudd<\/strong>\u00a0and Walter Bolognani, Italy&#8217;s head junior coach and co-founder of\u00a0<em>Nuoto.com,\u00a0<\/em>covering the challenges of lockdown and the journey out of it.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Until last week, pool closures had been matched in Spain by a ban on open water swimming. That has now been lifted but <strong>Paula Ruiz<\/strong>, one of two Spanish open water swimmers to have made the cut for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games now to be held from July 23, 2021, joined her federation&#8217;s call to get elite athletes back in the pool, too.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_378179\" style=\"width: 338px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-378179\" data-attachment-id=\"378179\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/len-european-swimming-junior-championships-2019\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/alba-vazquez-ruiz-european-juniors.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1200,688\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Giorgio Scala\\\/Deepbluemedia\\\/Insidefoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;VAZQUEZ RUIZ Alba ESP\\n400 Individual Medley women\\nLEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019\\nAquatic Palace Kazan\\nDay1 03\\\/07\\\/2019\\nPhoto G.Scala\\\/Deepbluemedia\\\/Insidefoto&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1562142502&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Giorgio Scala\\\/Deepbluemedia\\\/Insidefoto&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;10000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.000625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"alba-vazquez-ruiz-spain\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;8\/20\/19&lt;br \/&gt;\nVAZQUEZ RUIZ Alba ESP 400 Individual Medley women LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03\/07\/2019 Photo G.Scala\/Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, aquatic palace, Swimming, 2019, Junior, LEN, Nuoto, European championships, junior european championships, campionati europei, juniores, 400 Individual Medley women, VAZQUEZ RUIZ Alba ESP&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Alba Vazquez; Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala \/ Deepblue Media&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/alba-vazquez-ruiz-european-juniors-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/alba-vazquez-ruiz-european-juniors-1024x587.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-378179\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/alba-vazquez-ruiz-european-juniors-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"alba-vazquez-ruiz\" width=\"328\" height=\"234\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-378179\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alba Vazquez; Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala \/ Deepblue Media<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ruiz trains at the Malaga Performance Centre alongside <strong>Alba Vazquez<\/strong>, who won a thrilling<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/alba-vazquez-ruiz-breaks-world-junior-record-in-400-im-in-thrilling-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> 400IM at the World Junior Championships in world-junior-record time of 4:38.53 <\/a>last August. Ruiz told Spanish media:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The pool thing is a mess. I took the Covid-19 test and paid whatever it is to train and pick it up again. In Andalusia there are only five or six [elite, funded high-performance swimmers]. Let them concentrate on us &#8230; with a coach. I think I speak for all the swimmers. They&#8217;re going to end up opening the bars and terraces before the pools.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>One of the three worst-hit nations of Europe, with Britain and Italy, Spain, the first European country to close the pools due to coronavirus pandemic, has the second highest rate of infections outside the United States (1.4m), at 268,143, according to official global statistics that have been subject to questions over how counts are gathered, what they measure and how reliable they are.<\/p>\n<p>The official statistics record 26,744 deaths in Spain as of today, at a time when the curve of infections is flattening and the country is easing lockdown orders.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/rfen.es\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish federation, the<strong> RFEN<\/strong><\/a>, has asked the country&#8217;s Ministry of Health to rethink the decision and allow swimming to join the group of phase 1 sports allowed to return &#8220;with the prevention and hygiene measures required of the other sports facilities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The federation&#8217;s argument was supported by a report from <strong>Spain&#8217;s Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC)<\/strong> that concludes: &#8220;SARS-CoV-2 infection by contact with standard [treated] pool waters is highly unlikely&#8221;. The report also noted that &#8220;the residual concentration of the disinfection agent present in the water should be sufficient for the inactivation of the virus&#8221;, according to the CE Noticias Financieras news service.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_217480\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-217480\" data-attachment-id=\"217480\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1677,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-1024x733.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-217480\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-700x500.jpg 700w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-533x381.jpg 533w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-280x200.jpg 280w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold-1024x733.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/belmonte-garcia-200fly-gold.jpg 1677w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-217480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mireia Belmonte. Photo Courtesy: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>RFEN president Fernando Carpena<\/strong> went further than the Olympic elite such as Mireia Belmonte, however, saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We do not ask for privileged status, just to be granted the same consideration as other outdoor sports. If that order is not changed, swimming is excluded as a physical activity for the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards who practice it.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Reports in Spain note that many clubs have lost membership fees and dipped into the red during lockdown. They now find themselves excluded from ease-down measures at their pools even though they are allowed to open covered gyms and tennis courts under controlled conditions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Angel Bernet, president of CN Sant Andreu<\/strong>, National Club League champions, told CENF that he thought the issue was not just about the challenges faced by Mireia Belmonte and other Olympic elites. He said that it would be wrong just to allow the elite back in and noted that he would not be able to open overnight even when restrictions are lifted because of the cleaning and heating process required:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t open the pools and I think it would be wrong for us to open up for elite swimmers if we can&#8217;t open for other members. But [even when allowed to reopen] we can&#8217;t do it from a Saturday to a Monday. We need at least 15 days for legionella treatment and a week to heat the water.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_185189\" style=\"width: 318px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-185189\" data-attachment-id=\"185189\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jack-burnell-chelsea-gubecka-top-5k-events-at-australian-open-water-championships\/jack-burnell-finish\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Jack-Burnell-finish-e1489278347979.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1035,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Jack Burnell finish\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;12.5.20 9\/16\/18&lt;br \/&gt;\n3\/11\/17 &#038; 6\/13\/17&lt;br \/&gt;\nJack Burnell finish&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Britain and England&#8217;s Jack Burnell &#8211; Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Jack-Burnell-finish-e1455467198818-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Jack-Burnell-finish-e1455467198818-1024x792.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-185189\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Jack-Burnell-finish-e1455467198818-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Burnell finish\" width=\"308\" height=\"220\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-185189\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Britain and England&#8217;s Jack Burnell &#8211; Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Adding weight to the argument for controlled pool openings, Spain, Mireia Belmonte and her teammates and their coaches look to Germany and The Netherlands as examples of countries that have started to open up water space this week. Sweden, meanwhile, has never closed its pools, while pools in Britain and France remain shut.<\/p>\n<h3>England&#8217;s Open-Water Swimmers May be Back In Water Tomorrow<\/h3>\n<p>England&#8217;s open-water swimmers, meanwhile, are hopeful that they will be allowed back into seas, lakes and rivers soon under government guidelines published yesterday that allow sportsmen and women to train with a person from outside their household provided they keep two metres apart.<\/p>\n<p>If they have interpreted the new rules correctly, against a backdrop of confusion and debate about the precise advice from the UK Government, open water swimmers could take the plunge as early as tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Swim England<\/strong>, however, is advising that &#8220;only competent and experienced open-water swimmers use this form of exercise&#8221; and only &#8220;whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines&#8221; as &#8220;the majority of locations will not have lifeguards&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>A Swim England spokesman told <em>The Times<\/em> that it was working with British Triathlon and the Royal Life Saving Society to prepare guidelines, which it said would be &#8220;published shortly&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mireia Belmonte, Olympic 200m butterfly champion, open-water ace \u00a0Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain who\u00a0had their hopes of a return to full<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7532,"featured_media":424763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122087,122074],"tags":[123249,121252,43088,123248,32011,73668,123247,123250,122985,123246,531,36394],"class_list":["post-431653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-coronavirus","category-europe","tag-ban-on-water","tag-covid-19","tag-fred-vergnoux","tag-lockdown-easing","tag-mireia-belmonte","tag-olympic-champion","tag-phase-1","tag-plea-for-government-rethink","tag-pools","tag-re-open","tag-spain","tag-spanish-swimming-federation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Mireia Belmonte &amp; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures - Swimming World The Spanish Swimming Federation responded on Monday with a request to the Government to think again<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mireia Belmonte &amp; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Craig Lord\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Craig Lord\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Craig Lord\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f81fc3f5d0be27b50b7d6e4a217710c9\"},\"headline\":\"Mireia Belmonte &#038; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\"},\"wordCount\":1223,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ban on water\",\"Covid-19\",\"Fred Vergnoux\",\"lockdown easing\",\"Mireia Belmonte\",\"Olympic Champion\",\"phase 1\",\"plea for government rethink\",\"Pools\",\"re-open\",\"Spain\",\"Spanish Swimming Federation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Coronavirus\",\"Europe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\",\"name\":\"Mireia Belmonte & Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures - Swimming World The Spanish Swimming Federation responded on Monday with a request to the Government to think again\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Mireia Belmonte - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer \u00a9\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mireia Belmonte &#038; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f81fc3f5d0be27b50b7d6e4a217710c9\",\"name\":\"Craig Lord\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/addb076b4233f4de82577132c5ba195a?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/addb076b4233f4de82577132c5ba195a?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Craig Lord\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/craig-lord\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mireia Belmonte & Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures - Swimming World The Spanish Swimming Federation responded on Monday with a request to the Government to think again","description":"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mireia Belmonte & Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures","og_description":"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Craig Lord","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@swimmingworld","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Craig Lord","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/"},"author":{"name":"Craig Lord","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f81fc3f5d0be27b50b7d6e4a217710c9"},"headline":"Mireia Belmonte &#038; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures","datePublished":"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/"},"wordCount":1223,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","keywords":["ban on water","Covid-19","Fred Vergnoux","lockdown easing","Mireia Belmonte","Olympic Champion","phase 1","plea for government rethink","Pools","re-open","Spain","Spanish Swimming Federation"],"articleSection":["-Home Slider","Coronavirus","Europe"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/","name":"Mireia Belmonte & Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures - Swimming World The Spanish Swimming Federation responded on Monday with a request to the Government to think again","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-12T11:02:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-28T18:40:42+00:00","description":"Olympic\u00a0champion\u00a0Mireia Belmonte, open-water ace Paula Ruiz and World junior champion Alba Vasquez, are among top swimmers in Spain\u00a0had their hopes of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1706,"caption":"Mireia Belmonte - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer \u00a9"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mireia-belmonte-mates-pray-for-pain-in-spain-to-end-as-swim-fed-seeks-to-overturn-pool-closures\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mireia Belmonte &#038; Mates Pray For Pain In Spain To End As Swim Fed Seeks To Overturn Pool Closures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f81fc3f5d0be27b50b7d6e4a217710c9","name":"Craig Lord","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/addb076b4233f4de82577132c5ba195a?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/addb076b4233f4de82577132c5ba195a?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Craig Lord"},"url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/craig-lord\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Mireia Belmonte - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer  \u00a9 ","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/mireiabelmontelookingatcamerapatrick-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-1Oi9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7532"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}