Almudena Cid (43) is a brave woman although she assures that she has many insecurities derived from the fear that she has carried since she was a child of not being accepted. Since she left her native Vitoria at the age of 14 to dedicate herself to rhythmic gymnastics, her life has been a continuous struggle: first for responsibility with the family whom she feels she abandoned, then to be among the best gymnasts, then against her Federation. in search of equality. When she retired from the sport she also struggled to find a job and after the breakup of her 12-year marriage with presenter Christian Gálvez to rebuild herself internally.
The only rhythmic gymnast in the world who has competed in all the finals in the four Olympic Games (since Atlanta in 1996 and Beijing in 2008) has found a way to heal her emotional wounds in writing. “I don't consider myself a writer, because since I was little I already wrote diaries. I do not make fiction but rather I pour out my thoughts to understand and reorder what has happened to me. It has been a survival mechanism. The entire children's collection of Olympia has been to organize my childhood and adolescence as an athlete and the last book Walking without toes to find myself again after the personal collapse that I experienced last year," explains Almudena Cid to this newspaper.
In addition to writing, when she finished her time as a gymnast she began her career as an actress. “Now I will soon finish the performance of the play Ladies Football Club in Madrid. And it makes me angry, because we have been telling a story for a year and a half that is so similar to what the players of the Spanish team are experiencing now, and that it is set in 1917 in the United Kingdom.” And she continues "when I see what the soccer players are experiencing, I think that they are very brave, because of all the pressure they have to endure and the waste of energy, because they also have to continue training and competing."
During her time as a gymnast, Almudena Cid had to confront the Federation: “I didn't like how things were done and the only response I got was 'you dedicate yourself to training and we'll take care of the rest.' She felt misunderstood and alone, which is why now I have been moved by the union of the soccer players, since I only found support in my coach. But she worries me that they have to manage all this instead of dedicating themselves solely to football.”
Since his retirement from gymnastics, Cid has accompanied Paloma del Río as a commentator on Teledeporte broadcasts and does not know what will happen at the Paris 2024 Games: “It will be very strange. I can't imagine myself without her, because we had a very special relationship in front of and outside the microphones,” he says.
In recent months, Almudena has been linked to former soccer player Gerardo Berodia. “I don't want to talk about it,” he says, somewhat seriously, “because I'm in a stage of moving forward and building. To accept myself, to be good with myself and to have people around me who love me, who respect me and who value me.”
In this new stage, the actress has made the decision to leave Madrid and return to Vitoria, to be close to her parents. “They get older, but I also want to create my own home, which they will never take away from me,” she confesses, “because I need a feeling of belonging to a place and I belong to this land.” She has bought land and in three months “the excavators will start and we'll see if by Christmas 2024 I can be installed.”
Coincidence or not, this week a sofa and rest store in Pamplona, Mimma Gallery, has sponsored. “I have no talent for decoration and here I have found ideas for my new home.” She explains that in his house the sofa is the fundamental piece: “It is where I take refuge when I get home at the end of the day. I always have my feet up. “On the chaise longe is where I study the scripts or relax with a book.”
