Spain loses patience with Muñoz

"I don't want to train," they heard him say. It was the first week of October 2010 at the luxurious Top Training center in Tenerife. The Spanish national swimming team had convened with its star components, but the most famous of them was showing signs of despondency. Neither the opulent surroundings nor the sea air in Caleta has served to stimulate him sufficiently. Rafa Muñoz, possibly the most talented swimmer Spain has produced in its history, was having one of those melancholic days that make him slightly hydrophobic.

The federation's technical director, Luis Villanueva, who in practice acts with the powers of an inspector for the Superior Sports Council, is famous for the jealousy with which he guards his title of boss. According to witnesses, when Muñoz confessed that he was going through a period of personal difficulties, rather than offer support, Villanueva sent him packing: "Well, get on an airplane and go home."

Muñoz was dismissed from the team gathering in Tenerife. It was the beginning of the end. Six months later, he has been omitted from the team to participate in the World Championships in Shanghai, which begin on July 14.

Taking inspiration from the International Swimming Federation's 2010 ranking, Villanueva established objective criteria for team selection for Shanghai. At the Spanish Open in April he set a minimum time for each event. For the 50m butterfly, Muñoz's specialty, Villanueva decided 23.62, the 15th highest time of 2010, would be a good guarantee of quality. Muñoz touched the wall in 23.77, 15 hundredths of a second above the minimum mark. Villanueva removed Muñoz from his plans and, when asked if his decision was a flexible one, answered in the negative, despite Muñoz being ranked 12th in the world in that event.

In the manner of a civil servant, Villanueva pointed to the rule book ? a list of times that he himself had set. The end result is that Spain's best male swimmer is out of the World Championships, marginalized and unmotivated to start preparations for the 2012 Olympics.

Joan Fortuny was Muñoz's coach between 2006 and 2008, during the swimmer's first years under the aegis of the federation. "Rafa can challenge for a medal in the 50m butterfly at the Worlds," he says. "The problem is that at the Olympics there is no 50m and I don't know why he isn't training for the 100m. Training for the 100m is much different than the 50m because you have to work more on stamina. What motivation is there for a swimmer who was competing against [Michael] Phelps recently and now is only allowed to compete in a Spanish Championship?"

Between 2008 and 2009 Muñoz's form spiked dramatically while he was training in France. When he returned to Spain, under the orders of Villanueva, he lost several kilos of muscle. A FINA investigation after Muñoz missed two anti-doping tests was eventually resolved in 2010, with the swimmer declared guiltless. During that time, he broke the world record of 22.43 in 2009, with the now-banned polyurethane swimsuits and was firmly installed as the flag-bearer for Spanish swimming, with the backing of its institutions and, above all, of Villanueva.

Between his ADO grant, subsidies from the city hall of Córdoba, FINA and Spanish federation prize money and benefits from the Andalusia Olympic foundation, Muñoz was assured between 50,000 euros and 100,000 euros a year. Not bad for a 23-year-old. But when everything seemed set for Muñoz to peak, along came Tenerife and that despondency.

"What he most needs is motivation," says Fortuny. "The best way to stimulate him is not to leave him out of a World Championships for a fraction of a second. Spain is not Australia or Germany, which also use a system of minimum times because they have a quantity of swimmers that is unthinkable in Spain. A swimmer like Rafa appears in Spain once every 20 years."

Javier Noruega, a veteran Spanish swimmer, adds: "In the 50m and 100m butterfly, Rafa can be as good as Phelps. In 2009 they were eating out of the palm of his hand, now they treat him like just anybody."