Journalist Paloma del Río reviews her career at RTVE and highlights the 1992 Barcelona Games as a turning point for women's sport in Spain.
The journalist Paloma del Río (Madrid, 1960) has reflected on her professional journey in an interview published by elle.com, in which she analyses the evolution of women's sport in Spain and the role played by the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Del Río, one of the most recognisable voices of RTVE for decades, was the only one of her generation to choose the sports section when she joined the newsroom in 1986.
Trained at the Complutense University of Madrid, she shared her class with journalists such as Vicente Vallés, Teresa Viejo, Miguel Ángel Nieto, and Fran Sevilla. Before dedicating herself to journalism, she worked at the Clínica Ruber, where she balanced her job with her studies. Her specialty was the coverage of artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, disciplines she covered for fifteen years.
If women are given the same opportunities, time, benefits, equipment, nutrition, treatment, and psychological support, etc., as men, where would the women's team be in general? Not just in football, but in general.
Regarding her working method, Del Río explained in that interview that the key is to master the rules and then learn the details that can only be grasped through experience: “The first thing is to know the rules inside out. Then, the finer aspects of the competition, what your eye cannot see, you learn over time.”
The journalist places the change at the 1992 Barcelona Games, where 128 Spanish athletes participated compared to the 92 who had done so in total up to that point. At that event, Spain achieved 22 medals, a record that has yet to be surpassed. “The system worked and yielded good results. From then on, women gained a prestige that they previously lacked,” she stated.
Del Río acknowledged that for a time she felt that the space in which she worked was not hers, and she chose to work to carve out a place for herself and contribute to changing the situation. Before her, other journalists such as Olga Viza, María Antonia Martínez, and Maricarmen Izquierdo had already reported on sports, although Del Río has been the one who has remained in that specialty the longest.
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