Andalusian pioneers in the Winter Olympics

Ernestina maenza is the woman who started Andalusian participation at the Winter Olympics. She managed, along with a Catalan named Margot Moles to put women’s sports on the map at a time of unrelenting sexism.

Later, some athletes from Andalucía had prominent roles as pioneers of winter sports at the Winter Olympic Games.

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Ernestina Maenza Fernández-Calvo was born in Lucena, Córdoba, on 22 December 1908. Ernestina moved to Madrid where she began alpine skiing.

She was crowned Spanish champion in 1936. At the 1936 Olympic Games in the German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ernestina and Margot competed in the alpine skiing (combined) event.

The Cordoba skiing team member fell several times while descending, which caused her to be considerably slowed down. She also suffered a shoulder dislocation. The result was that she could not take part in part two of the combined competition.

Margot Moles fell on both runs. These women didn’t even make the top ten but their pioneering performance was important for Spanish winter sport.

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José Javier Rojas Martínez del Marmol, better known simply as Pepe Rojas from Granada, is also considered a pioneer of Spanish freestyle.

Pepe was born in 1970. He was a child who loved the Sierra Nevada’s lush landscape. It became his favourite place to play and have fun in the winter.

He began to learn alpine ski at the age of 8, but soon switched over to artistic skiing and specifically mogul. Sierra Nevada was seeing this acrobatic technique gain in popularity.

He achieved his dream to compete in the Winter Olympics through his love for freestyle. In 1992, he traveled to Albertville and competed in mogul skiing, becoming one the key protagonists for the debut of this discipline in the Olympic programme. Lillehammer in Norway became his second Olympic debut.

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If there is one title that Victoria Padial Hernández deserves for her extensive sporting career, it is that of pioneer of women’s biathlon in Spain. Spain and Biathlon are hard to reconcile.

However, this did not bother the Andalusian Victoria Padial Hernández. The first Spanish biathlete in the Olympic Games and the first Spanish medalist for the National Team at World and European Championships.

Victoria was born 10 August 1989 in Granada and became interested in Biathlon shortly after. She trained in the Sierra Nevada snow, mostly cross-country skiing or roller skating.

She was not surprised to win a Bronze medal at the Summer Biathlon World Championships 2013 and two Silver medals at 2014 European Biathlon Championships.

Victoria was the first Spanish athlete ever to win a biathlon medal at an international competition.

In 2010, Victoria Padial Hernández had the honour of participating in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and four years later in Sochi, where she achieved her best result, finishing 46th in the 10 km pursuit race.

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Rocío Delgado, also known as Chio, has been a pioneer from the very beginning. She became the Spanish woman who was first to join the Spanish National Team that competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver, in the skicross discipline.

She was born in Huesca on 21st July 1977 and moved with her parents to Granada at age two.

Sierra Nevada inspired her to pursue a successful career in sports. Chio initially trained in alpine, though her preference and heart always leaned toward freestyle skiing. Tracks and jumps brought her the excitement and pleasure she was looking for in skiing.

When the discipline began to develop nationally at the beginning of the century, Rocío Delgado was one of the pioneers who contributed to its development, standing out from the outset in the few competitions that existed at the time.

Rocío won the European Cup in 2007, took bronze in 2008 and remained among the world’s best skiers between 1999 and 2010.

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The only representative of Malaga in winter sports, Regino Hernández Martín is considered a pioneer of Spanish snowboarding.

Regino, who lives in Mijas and trains in Sierra Nevada, began snowboarding when he was four years old. At a young age, he was a standout.

Regino was the Spanish junior champion in 2011 at the age 14 years old. Since then, he has been the benchmark in Andalucía in the cross-country discipline. Spain lauded his performance at the Winter Olympics.

With his bronze medal in Pyeongchang in 2018, Regino Hernández ended Spain’s 26-year medal drought at the Winter Olympics.