È: For me, it started very naturally, like a child’s game. When you’re ten, playing sports is a lot like a game. And from the time I was little, I’ve always been quite good, but earlier on more at the Barcelona or Catalan regional level. When I really started getting better, and my most successful year, was my first year as a medical student. It was quite gradual, but it was when I started to train every day, to take better care of my nutrition, sleep, etc. That’s when I really joined elite athletics. 

J: For me, judo was the high point of my day, what I enjoyed most. When you’re little, you start with two days a week. Then you ask to do three, then four, then five... You keep adding more. And as you start to see the results, you dedicate more time to it. My second-to-last year of secondary school was when I made the leap. Since then, I’ve had a lot of injuries, but I’m back again now. 

È: Formally, every year a list of high-level athletes is published. If you’re on it, you qualify for a series of benefits, such as the Tutoresport programme here at UPF. At the personal level, it means being at a level that lets you participate in international championships, whether European or worldwide, and also having a certain status in Spain. That also means putting in daily work, both physically and mentally, and handling that well in your day-to-day.

For me, one of the most remarkable things about being a high-performance athlete is that it’s a 24/7 job. You feel like you always having to be in top form, like everything you do in your daily life has to match this pace of life geared towards the highest level.

J: Yes, exactly. At the end of the day, it’s a lifestyle. You have to really understand that it is an activity you enjoy a lot and that, ultimately, your sports goals are going to condition a lot of your priorities at the highest levels of your life. Especially as a young person, I find we have to prioritize rest, food, taking care of ourselves, etc., much more. Personally, I don’t mind; on the contrary, I find it fulfilling. But these repercussions are there.

J: My family has always cared a lot about both sport and health, and we have always attached a lot of importance to them. Like many athletes, I initially considered studying physical activity and sport science. In the end, though, I decided on medicine. Maybe because I’ve had a lot of injuries over my sporting life. And I thought having both sides would allow me to help athletes going through the same things I have in the future.

È: In my case, it’s not so much that sport made me choose medicine. I’d liked science ever since I was little, and I was able to enrol on medicine because of the marks I earned in secondary school and on the university entrance exam. For some people in my class, it was a real calling. For me, it was the option I chose from among the ones I had. I liked science, I liked the profession, helping people... It’s also true that, as an athlete, I believe in this idea of giving importance to health. So I do think there is a link, but more because of my personality than because of sport.

J: In my case, I get up early, go to train – I’m often the one opening the gym; I’m there by 6:45 a.m. – and then I come here, take my classes, and then usually stay in the library studying until evening practice, which is from 6 to 9 p.m. Then I go home, where I mainly just go to sleep, because the next day it’s the same, and I have to get up early again.

È: In the most intense weeks, it would be: get up, train, have breakfast, go to the hospital in the morning, take classes in the early afternoon, and then go train again. There are weeks when I really feel you have to be one hundred per cent focused on both things. It’s a situation where you have two things, both of which are very demanding and both of which require a lot of mental energy. Plus, it fluctuates a lot. Sometimes you prioritize university, exams, internships; sometimes you prioritize training and competing. You have to play around a bit and improvise as you go. Over the course of my studies, I’ve taken fewer classes some years to be able to combine the two things, and to have a bit of a life outside all that.

È: Last year, I spent two terms in Italy, because I was feeling a bit burnt out with both medicine and athletics. I felt like I needed to take a breath, needed a break, because I think I was a bit overwhelmed. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that these are the two things I want to do, but that it’s very important to give each one the space it deserves at any given time. I know I’ll be able to play sports until a certain age, whereas I can take my time more with my studies. So, I may have to prioritize sport now, because it’s now or never.

J: I can really relate to what Èlia is saying. Both areas require a lot of dedication. Judo is a sport where we have to help each other train. A lot of the time, I’ll start studying right after I finish competing. Ten minutes later, someone will ask me to help them warm up. I’ll go back to studying, and then ten minutes later, someone else is asking for help, and so on. You’re always trying to juggle both things and looking to scrounge a few minutes wherever you can. That’s why I think planning is so important.

J: It’s a programme designed to help recognised high-level athletes balance our academics and sports. We’re assigned a tutor to help us with anything we need. Often, they don’t need to do anything, because when you tell a teacher that you’re part of Tutoresport, they are all very understanding and helpful. I’ve never had any problem getting excused for an absence or making scheduling changes. Above all, it allows you to go to competitions knowing that you are doing both things and that nothing will happen if, at some point in the season, you need to prioritize sport, because it will be taken into consideration.

È: A lot of the time, you don’t actively need it, but it is reassuring to know that if a teacher were to give me a problem, or if I were to have a situation where it was complicated to do it all, I have a tutor, a person of reference, who will give me support and help me balance it all.

È: Injuries are the flip side of an athlete’s life. On the one hand, they are incredibly frustrating. You feel like the process you’ve been following has been cut short, and you have to start over again from scratch. A lot of people might think an injury means stopping, but it can actually be even harder. Because it means doing a lot of things you hadn’t been doing before and that now you have to do to recover. In my case, for example, it means swimming instead of running. And it might be something you don’t like as much, that you have to do every day, and that doesn’t give you any concrete result, just being able to get back to doing something you hadn’t even thought that you would have to stop doing in the first place. For me, though, there is also an upside. Even though you have to deal with maintenance and recovery, you can focus on other things, like your studies, social life, or other aspects of life you don’t focus on when you’re at the top of your game.

J: I think it is the hardest part of a sportsperson’s or athlete’s life. We put in a lot of effort and make a lot of sacrifices to make sure everything goes smoothly, and injuries are something you can’t control, that don’t depend on you. And they can come at the worst time, right when you were about to achieve something you had been working towards for a long time... They are part of the life of an athlete, and you have to understand that they are inevitable and know how to manage them. They are also part of this whole process and part of your personal growth.

J: I think that studies and sport, in my case judo, complement each other very well. Ever since I was little, judo has given me this capacity for sacrifice, perseverance, discipline... In the end, in a demanding degree programme like medicine, daily work is essential. And vice versa: taking such demanding studies puts you under stress and pressure that you have to learn to manage. Competitions are also specific times when you have to perform, when you’re under a lot of pressure. I think my studies have helped me improve my sports performance.

È: Athletics, and sport in general, give you a lot of values that are applicable to medical studies and to life: perseverance, sacrifice, managing nerves or frustration, etc. In medicine, we also experience very demanding situations, which don’t always turn out well, and knowing how to manage frustration or mistakes can be very good for you. As for how my medical studies have helped me in athletics, it’s hard to say, but I really think they’ve helped me relativize. At the hospital, you see all kinds of patients with all kinds of diseases. It puts what it means to lose a race in perspective. We live in a very intense environment, a sort of bubble, and this more human, more grounded part helps me relativize athletics and makes me enjoy it more.

J: In the short term, in terms of sport, it would be to do well in the European Under-23 Championships. In the long term, like any other athlete who trains every day and works hard at it, it’s to go to the World Championships or the Olympics. And in the world of medicine, I’d love to work at a high-performance centre, helping athletes overcome their injuries.

È: The great goal of all athletes is obviously to go to the Olympics or World Championships. I’ve just moved up to the senior category, so my goal would be to play for the senior Spanish national team in a world or European championship. As a doctor, I still don’t really know what my speciality will be. Unlike Jana, who knows she wants to focus on the world of sport, I’m still looking for the right field for me. What I want is to find one that fulfils me and to be able to help people.