Sport in Spain

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World Cup champions celebrate in 2010 as they pass in front of the Air Force
Headquarters in Madrid.

Bullring Las Ventas City.

Sport in Spain in the second half of the 20th century has always been dominated by
football. Other popular sport activities include basketball, tennis, cycling,
handball, motorcycling, Judo, Formula One, water sports, rhythmic gymnastics, golf,
bullfighting and skiing. Spain has also hosted a number of international events
such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. With
Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon championships in 2008 and 2010, the tennis team winning
the Davis Cup five times (2000, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011), basketball team winning
the 2006 World Basketball Championship, the 2009 EuroBasket, and the 2011
EuroBasket, Fernando Alonso's back-to-back (2005 and 2006 Formula One
championships), the football team bringing home Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and
Euro 2012 trophies and �scar Pereiro, Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre's 2006,
2007, 2008 and 2009 triumphs in Tour de France more recently, several papers have
looked beyond Sastre's win to claim that Spain is enjoying something of a sporting
"Golden Age"-similar to the Spanish 17th century achievements in painting and
literature.

Contents
1 Football
2 Basketball
3 Tennis
4 Handball
5 Motorsports
6 Cycling
7 Golf
8 Water sports
8.1 Water polo
8.2 Synchronized swimming
9 Rhythmic gymnastics
10 Roller hockey (Quad)
11 Basque and Valencian pelota
12 Skiing
13 Others
14 Notes
15 References
16 External links
Football
Main article: Football in Spain

Spain national football team at 2009-11-18 in Vienna.

El Cl�sico

Spain national football team celebrating its victory at the UEFA Euro 2008
Championship in Madrid.
Football is the most popular sport in Spain. La Liga or Primera Divisi�n (The
Spanish League) is considered to be one of the world's best competitions.
Successful teams in recent European competitions are Real Madrid, FC Barcelona,
Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia CF and Atl�tico Madrid. Real Madrid and
Barcelona have dominated for much of their history, and created an intimate
rivalry. Real Madrid has been dubbed by many pundits as the most successful club in
the world, having won the UEFA Champions League a record 13 times, almost all other
UEFA club competitions at least once and the La Liga a record 33 times. Barcelona
has been European champions 5 times, and won La Liga on 25 occasions. Other teams
such as Atl�tico Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia have also gained prominence by
winning the UEFA Europa League, with 9 titles going to Spanish teams since 2004.

The Spain national team has been successful and has qualified for the FIFA World
Cup tournament fifteen times since 1934. In 2010, Spain defeated the Netherlands in
the final to win the tournament for the first time. In the European Championship
they were champions in 1964, 2008 and 2012, and runners-up in 1984. Spain has won
two medals in football Olympic Games tournaments. They have won a silver medal at
the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and won a gold medal during the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics.

The youth teams have also been quite successful in the last decade. The U-20 team
won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999 and were runners-up in 1985 and 2003.
The U-17 team was runners-up three times and won third place in 1997 in the FIFA U-
17 World Cup.

Basketball
Main article: Basketball in Spain

Pau Gasol with the shirt of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Spain national team in 2006 World Championships.

The Spanish ACB is one of the major European basketball leagues. Spanish teams such
as Real Madrid Baloncesto, FC Barcelona B�squet and Joventut Badalona have won
international championships such as the Euroleague or Eurocup.

A number of Spanish players such as Pau Gasol and his younger brother Marc Gasol,
Jos� Calder�n, Ricky Rubio, and naturalized Spaniard Serge Ibaka are currently
playing in the NBA. Other Spanish players who have recently played in the league
include Rudy Fern�ndez and Sergio Rodr�guez.

The Spanish men's national basketball team has achieved a high ranked position in
the international tournament by winning their first ever gold medal at the 2006
FIBA World Championship, and have hosted the 1986 FIBA World Championship and 2014
FIBA Basketball World Cup. also won six silver medals and three gold medals at the
EuroBasket. Most recently, they won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2011, a silver at
the 2012 Summer Olympics, a gold at EuroBasket 2015, and a bronze at the 2016
Summer Olympics. The women's national team were silver medalists at the 2014 FIBA
World Championship for Women (since renamed the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup)
and 2016 Olympics. They have also won nine medals (three gold, one silver, five
bronze) at EuroBasket Women, most recently a gold in 2017. The country finished
third in the FIBA Women's World Cup in 2018.

Tennis
Main article: Tennis in Spain

Rafael Nadal

Semifinal match between the eventual champion, Spain, and the United States in Las
Ventas.
Manuel Santana during a Sweden visit 1964.
Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on
clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament.

Spain has also won the Davis Cup six times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2019) and
the Fed Cup five other times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998)

Rafael Nadal is widely regarded as the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time
and generally considered one of the best players ever. He has won the French Open
for five consecutive times, and altogether has won twelve Roland Garros titles long
surpassing Bj�rn Borg's record of six French Open titles. After defeating then
world number one Roger Federer, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon trophy and became only
the second Spaniard to do so. He has won the 2009 Australian Open, the first male
Spaniard to do so. In 2009, he became the first player ever to simultaneously hold
Grand Slam titles on clay, grass, and hardcourt. In addition, Nadal is the Gold
Medalist at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. As of now he has won 19 Grand
Slam titles consisting of 12 French Open titles, 2 Wimbledon titles, 4 US Open
titles and 1 Australian Open title.

Spain has produced several other world number one players such as Arantxa S�nchez
Vicario in 1995 (also a 3 times French Open champion in 1989, 1994 and 1998 and
1994 US Open Champion), Carlos Moy� in 1999 (1998 French Open champion) Juan Carlos
Ferrero in 2003 (2003 French Open Champion) and Garbi�e Muguruza (2016 French Open
and 2017 Wimbledon).

Other Grand Slam champions include Manuel Santana (1961,1964 French Opens, 1966
Wimbledon and 1965 US Open), Sergi Bruguera (1993�94 French Opens), Andr�s Gimeno
(1972 French Open), Conchita Mart�nez (1994 Wimbledon) and Albert Costa (2002
French Open).

Other notable top 10 players from Spain include #2 �lex Corretja, #3 David Ferrer,
#5 Tommy Robredo, #7 Juan Aguilera, #7 Emilio S�nchez (older brother of Arantxa
S�nchez Vicario), #7 Alberto Berasategui, #7 Fernando Verdasco, #10 Carlos Costa,
#10 F�lix Mantilla, Lil� �lvarez or Manuel Alonso.

Tournaments held in Spain on the men's tour every year include Madrid, Barcelona,
and Valencia. The women have events in Madrid, Barcelona, and Marbella.

Handball

Palacio de Deportes de Santander.

Main article: Handball in Spain
The Spanish Liga ASOBAL is one of the best club competitions. A number of Spanish
teams such as BM Ciudad Real, FC Barcelona Handbol, and Portland San Antonio have
won or were finalists in the EHF Champions League.

Since the 1990s the men's national team has won eight medals in top class
international tournaments, with three bronze medals at the Olympics, three second
and a third place at the European Championships and two World Championships (2005
and 2013).

Motorsports

Alonso at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

Dani Pedrosa

Carlos Sainz with a Citro�n Xsara WRC in the Cyprus Rally from the 2004 season.
Marc M�rquez in 2018 Grand Prix of San Marino.
Spain has hosted four Grand Prix motorcycle racing events. They include the Catalan
motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix, the Aragon motorcycle Grand Prix,
and the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix. Most events have received high
attendance numbers.

Notable Spanish grand prix motorcycling riders include Dani Pedrosa, Nicol�s Terol,
�lvaro Bautista, Emilio Alzamora, three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo and
five-time champion Marc M�rquez. Notable retired racers include �lex Crivill�,
Jorge Mart�nez Aspar, Sete Gibernau, Sito Pons, and �ngel Nieto. Away from the
track, Laia Sanz has won multiple women's world titles in motorcycle trials and
enduro as well as several wins in the female class of the Dakar Rally. In 2018 Ana
Carrasco became the first female motorcyclist to win a world title when she became
Supersport 300 World Champion.

In Formula One the two world championships of Fernando Alonso, in 2005 and 2006,
have made the sport popular in Spain. It was, until 2012, the only country to host
two Grands Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and the European Grand Prix on
the Valencia Street Circuit, which was discontinued for 2013.

In the World Rally Championship Spanish rally driver Carlos Sainz was crowned world
champion in 1990 and 1992 and is ranked third with most wins with 26. Sainz retired
from WRC in 2005 and switched to rally raid, where he won the 2010 Dakar Rally.
Daniel Sordo has achieved best results since then by finishing third in the World
Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009.

In endurance racing, Ferm�n V�lez is two-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner and two-
time World Sportscar Championship Group C2 champion, Marc Gen� won the 2009 24
Hours of Le Mans and 2010 12 Hours of Sebring, and Antonio Garc�a won the 2009 24
Hours of Daytona. Fernando Alonso won the 2018-2019 FIA WEC World Championship,
taking wins at the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also won the 2019 24 Hours
of Daytona.

Cycling

David de la Fuente in the 7th stage of the Tour de France 2007 at the Col de la
Colombi�re.

Cycling event in Santander.

Adam Raga.
Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The Vuelta a Espa�a
(Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the
world, together with the Tour de France (French for "Tour of France") and Giro
d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") stage races, collectively known as the Grand
Tours.

Several Spanish cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including Federico
Bahamontes, Luis Oca�a, Pedro Delgado, �scar Pereiro, Alberto Contador, and Carlos
Sastre. The most successful Spanish cyclist is Miguel Indurain. He won the Tour de
France in five consecutive years between 1991 and 1995. He also won the Giro
d'Italia in two consecutive years (1992 and 1993), the 1995 Road World Championship
time trial and the gold medal in the 1996 Olympic time trial.

More recently, in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to
win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in 2009's
edition. Contador was thought to have repeated his win in 2010, but the day before
Stage 17, the queen stage finishing with atop the Col du Tourmalet, Contador tested
positive for performance-enhancing substance Clenbuterol. Although he claimed it
was a result of consuming contaminated beef, in January 2012 the Court of
Arbitration for Sport ruled him guilty and gave him a two-year ban backdated from
July 21, 2010, and had all his results achieved after July 21 erased, including
victory in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and a 5th-place finish and most aggressive rider
award for stage 19 at the 2011 Tour de France. Since returning from the ban,
Contador has won the Vuelta twice, in 2012 and 2014.

�scar Freire shares the distinction of being one of four men to win the World Road
Racing Championship three times, as well as being a three-time winner of one of the
most prestigious one-day classic cycle races, the Milan�San Remo. Abraham Olano won
the Vuelta a Espa�a in 1998, and is the only man to win World Championships in both
the road race (1995) and time trial (1998). Alejandro Valverde was the winner of
the 2009 Vuelta a Espa�a, has won the one-day classic Li�ge�Bastogne�Li�ge four
times, and in 2018 became World Road Race Champion after having previously finished
second or third six times.

Spain has also produced some notable mountain bikers llke Jos� Antonio Hermida and
track racers like Olympic medalists Joan Llaneras, Jos� Manuel Moreno Peri��n, Jos�
Antonio Escuredo or Sergi Escobar as well as multi-world champion Guillermo
Timoner.

Golf

Golf course in Mallorca

Golf has become popular among the Spanish. There are a number of courses located in
different parts of Spain. They include the San Roque, Sotogrande, Valderrama, and
Alcaidesa. Spain hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup.

Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros won the U.S. Masters Tournament twice, and the
British Open three times. Jos� Mar�a Olaz�bal has won two Masters titles. Sergio
Garc�a[1] spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf
Rankings (over 250 weeks between 2000 and 2008) and won the 2017 Masters. In the
women's game, Spain fielded the winning team in the inaugural International Crown
in 2014.

Water sports
Water polo

David Meca.
The Spain men's national water polo team is no stranger to the world's elite of
this sport. The 1990s were a particularly successful decade for the Spanish team.
Major achievements included a Silver medal at the 1992 Olympics and its greatest
performance to date, winning the Gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.

Other remarkable performances include winning the Gold medal at the 1998 World
Aquatics Championships and, again, at the 2001 edition. They also took Silver at
the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome. Before that, Spain had taken Silver at
the 1991 edition and then again at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships.

Synchronized swimming
During the 2000s, Spanish swimmer Gemma Mengual has heralded a series of both
individual and team medals for Spain in all the major international synchronized
swimming tournaments, including the Silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Mengual's coach, Ana Tarr�s, who herself represented Spain in the sport at the 1984
Summer Olympics, also served as coach of the national team from 1997 to 2012:
during her time in charge the team enjoyed great success, taking four Olympic
medals, 26 World Championship medals, and 25 European Championship medals.[2] Other
Spanish synchronised swimmers to enjoy success in international competition since
the emergence of Mengual include Paola Tirados, Andrea Fuentes, the most decorated
swimmer in the history of the Spain national team,[3] Ona Carbonell and Margalida
Cresp�.

Rhythmic gymnastics

Patricia Moreno the Spanish Champion of Artistic Gymnastics in Vilassar de Mar in

2004.

Carolina Pascual, individual all-around Olympic silver medalist in 1992.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a popular sport through all Spain, so far the most
successful individual rhythmic gymnasts are Carolina Pascual who won a silver medal
in the individual all around competition in Barcelona 1992, Carmen Acedo who won
gold medal in clubs competition in World Championships in 1993 and Almudena Cid
this last is the only rhythmic gymnast who has competed at four olympic finals,
placing 9th at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 being 8th at Athens 2004 and Beijing
2008.

In the Atlanta 1996 the Spanish team won the first gold medal of the new
competition by groups. The Spanish team was formed by Estela Gim�nez, Marta Bald�,
Nuria Cabanillas, Lorena Gur�ndez, Est�baliz Mart�nez and Tania Lamarca.

Medal standings in World Championships

Deportista Au Ag Template:Bronze Total
1 Nuria Cabanillas 01.PNG Nuria Cabanillas[n 1] 3 4 0 7
2 Estela Gim�nez en Hollywood 02.PNG Estela Gim�nez 2 4 2 8
3 Marta Bald� 01.PNG Marta Bald� 2 4 2 8
4 Est�baliz Mart�nez 01.PNG Est�baliz Mart�nez 2 3 0 5
5 Tania Lamarca 01.PNG Tania Lamarca 2 3 0 5
6 Maider Esparza 01.PNG Maider Esparza[n 2] 2 3 0 5
7 Lorena Gur�ndez 01.PNG Lorena Gur�ndez 2 2 0 4
8 Alejandra Quereda 2013 Kiev.PNG Alejandra Quereda 2 0 2 4
9 Sandra Aguilar 2013 Kiev.PNG Sandra Aguilar 2 0 2 4
10 Lourdes Mohedano 2013 Kiev.PNG Lourdes Mohedano 2 0 2 4
11 Elena L�pez 2013 Kiev.PNG Elena L�pez 2 0 2 4
12 Artemi Gavezou 2013 Kiev.PNG Artemi Gavezou 2 0 2 4
Spain has found more success in the group competition than at the individual one,
the country won many medals and gained prominence in the 90's which has its peak at
the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996, after the world championships at home
in Seville 1998 the group went downhill and had inconsistent results until 2012
when they finished at the 4th place at the Olympic Games in 2012 London Olympics
and a performance they would repeat at the 2013 World Championships in Kiev where
the Spanish group won the gold at the 10 clubs final and a bronze in the 3 balls +
2 ribbons final, their firsts world championships medals in 15 years, at the 2014
World Championships in Izmir, Turkey they retained their world title in the 10
clubs final. At the 2015 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships held in Stuttgart,
Germany the group won the bronze medal at the all around competition, since 1998
the Spanish group hasn't won an all around medal.

Also for the first time in 9 years the country classified two gymnast for the
individual all-around final, Natalia Garcia who finished in the 19th spot and
Carolina Rodriguez who got the 11th place.

Roller hockey (Quad)

Roller hockey (Quad) is played by professional athletes. The Spain national team
has won the World Championship 14 times with 12 second places and 7 third places
and also won the European Championship 14 times with 15 second places and 5 third
places. The Spanish teams as FC Barcelona, Reus Deportiu, Igualada HC and HC Liceo
La Coru�a has won the European Clubs Cup in 44 editions, losing only in 7.
Basque and Valencian pelota

Pilota Valenciana
Main articles: List of players of Basque pelota and Valencian pilotaris
Basque pelota and Valencian pilota are traditional Spanish sports. Tournaments
includes trinquete, Trofeu Individual Bancaixa, Circuit Bancaixa, raspall singles
championship, and raspall team championship.

Skiing
Skiing is a popular sport. In the past, this sport was under development for
economic reasons. However the improvement of the economy of Spain, helped skiing
become an active sport event. It has become popular, and the skiing sites have been
modernized in recent years. In Spain the southernmost ski resort of Europe, Sierra
Nevada, is located. Skiing is one of the favourite sports of the Spanish Royal
Family.

Spain has enjoyed some success in competitive alpine skiing. Skiers who have won
races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup include Carolina Ruiz Castillo, Mar�a Jos�
Rienda, and siblings Blanca and Francisco Fern�ndez Ochoa. The Fern�ndez Ochoas are
the only Spanish athletes to have won medals at the Winter Olympics, with Francisco
winning a gold medal in the men's slalom in the 1972 Winter Olympics and Blanca
winning a bronze in the women's equivalent twenty years later.