The Spanish Federation has released the national team selected to compete at the Beijing Olympic Games. The squad comprises 54 athletes, 32 men and 22 women.
Spanish Federation President and IAAF Council Member, José María Odriozola commented as a press conference that: “we have 8 or 10 medal options (‘Paquillo Fernández, Mario Pestano, the 1500 trio and Marta Domínguez among them) so our target is to equal at least our haul from Barcelona Olympics in 1992 when we clinched 4 medals.”
Spanish Olympic team (entry performance in brackets)
Men (32)
100m: Ángel David Rodríguez (10.14)
200m: Ángel David Rodríguez (20.61)
800m: Manuel Olmedo (1:45.13), Antonio Reina (1:45.32), Miguel Quesada (1:45.58)
1500m: Juan Carlos Higuero (3:31.57), Arturo Casado (3:33.14), Reyes Estévez (3:34.33)
5000m: Jesús España (13:13.32), Alemayehu Bezabeh (13:20.46), Alberto García (13:20.48)
10,000m: Juan Carlos de la Ossa (27:28.31), Carlos Castillejo (27:39.79), Ayad Lamdassem (27:45.58)
Marathon: José Ríos (2h 09:38), Chema Martínez (2h10:12), Julio Rey (2h11:36)
110m hurdles: Jackson Quiñónez (13.33)
3000m steeplechase: Rubén Palomeque (8:20.07), José Luis Blanco (8:22.47), Eliseo Martín (8:22.91)
High Jump: Javier Bermejo (2.27)
Long Jump: Luis Felipe Méliz (8.20)
Shot Put: Manuel Martínez (20.39)
Discus: Mario Pestano (69.50), Frank Casañas (67.91)
Decathlon: David Gómez (7736p)
20km Race Walk: Francisco Fernández (1h18:15), Juan Manuel Molina (1h 19:19), Benjamín Sánchez (1h20:48)
50km Race Walk: Jesús A. García Bragado, (3h46:08), Mikel Odriozola (3h 47:30), Santiago Pérez (3h46:56)
Women (22)
1500m: Iris Fuentes-Pila (4:04.44), Natalia Rodríguez (4:03.68)
5000m: Dolores Checa (14:55.71)
10,000m: Isabel Checa (32:07.78)
Marathon: Alessandra Aguilar (2h29:03), Yesenia Centeno (2h31:16), María José Pueyo (2h32:22)
100m hurdles: Josephine Onya (12.50)
400m hurdles: Laia Forcadell (56.24)
3000m steeplechase: Marta Domínguez (9:21.76), Rosa Morató (9:26.23), Zulema Fuentes-Pila (9:31.53)
High Jump: Ruth Beitia (2.02)
Pole Vault: Naroa Agirre (4.50)
Long Jump: Concha Montaner (6.89)
Triple Jump: Carlota Castrejana (14.64i)
Shot Put: Irache Quintanal (18.20)
Hammer: Berta Castells (68.66)
Javelin: Mercedes Chilla (62.19)
20km Race Walk: María Vasco (1h28:39), María José Povés (1h29:31), Beatriz Pascual (1h30.09)