The Mireia Belmonte saga has seemingly seen its final chapter, with Spanish media outlet ABC.es reporting that she has reached an agreement to continue swimming for her coach Fred Vergnoux, despite a falling-out with the CN Sabadell club.
Belmonte had huge success in London at the Olympics, winning silver medals in both the 800 free and the 200 fly and becoming the first Spanish swimmer to win two Olympic medals. Shortly thereafter, however, she had a falling out with her club CN Sabadell over her request for a higher salary, and their displeasure with what they viewed as her “rudeness” and “disrespect.”
An arrangement, however, with the Catholic University of Murcia will allow her to continue training with Vergnoux, with whom she had no apparent discord. She will officially join the squad of UCAM CN Fuensanta to allow her to simultaneously train while finishing her management degree.
There were rumors that she would end up training in Nice, France with the hottest training group in the world (aka the home of Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat), but Belmonte said that this option was off the table. “”I was just not comfortable with living in a foreign country far from home and friends, and instead I decided to go home which is where I feel better,” she said of the rumors.
Her new club is located in southeastern Spain in a city of half-a-million that serves as a regional capital, which is about five-and-a-half hours south of Barcelona, where Sabadell exists. She will remain in Barcelona and complete her education from a distance. The deal was brokered by Jose Luis Mendoza, the head of the University, and Alejandro Blanco, the head of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE).
