from almost retiring to participating in the Olympic Games at 32 years old

The life of Mariona Ortiz (Calella, Barcelona, ​​1992) took a 180º turn on May 19, 2022. That day, and after several months in which she even considered quitting basketball, the player announced her commitment to Casademont Zaragoza to play in the Women’s League. Since then, in just two years, Ortiz has turned things around.

In the Aragonese capital, the Catalan point guard has managed to once again display her best game and has led the club to win the Queen’s Cup in 2023 or to be one game away from reaching the Euroleague Final Four this season. The prize of this historic year has been even greater: debuting at 32 years old with the Spanish national team and be called up to participate in her first Olympic Games.

Her influence, along with that of her teammates, has gone far beyond the track itself. In Zaragoza’s schools, many boys and girls have seen in her an example to look up to and a role model to imitate. In fact, They have led the women’s basketball sport to fill the Príncipe Felipe pavilion frequentlya fact that is more difficult for the men’s section of the club.

In addition, this psychology student has no qualms about talking about the mental health problems she has had throughout her career. “Going to therapy is the best thing I’ve ever done,” she confesses.

Without these sessions that she started more than six years ago, it would be impossible to imagine the Mariona Ortiz of today. That is why she is aware of what it has cost her to get to the Olympic Games and warns that she is waiting for them and that she is going to enjoy them with all her might.How little Mariona waited for the arrival of Three Kings’ Night.

How are you? Are you looking forward to your debut?

I’m very happy, it was something that I didn’t even expect at 32 years old and I’m like a little girl full of hope. I’m just waiting for the moment to arrive, it’s been like the night of the Three Kings for me.

Are you the third oldest in the team and almost the most excited of all?

No, no, everyone here is really excited. The Olympic Games are something very important, very unique and very special for every athlete and in terms of excitement, I think we are tied here.

This year you have been named National MVP of the Women’s League. Did you fear, especially at the beginning of the call-up, that the best Spanish player of the season would be left out of the Games?

Yes, of course. I am very aware of the level of play in Spain, especially in the point guard position, where there has always been a lot of competition. I also know that you don’t have the same role in a team as in the national team, where everything changes, and I fully understood why I had been left out because there are many players of a very high level.

When Silvia Domínguez got injured, did you start to realize that you were practically in?

Well, in the end it depends on the team structure that Miguel would like to lead. I haven’t taken anything for granted for years because I’m very day-to-day. Over the years I’ve learned that life has its plans and it’s better to focus on the present instead of thinking about the future. As for Silvia’s injury, she didn’t deserve it and it was a shame, it’s bad luck, but I focused on my day-to-day and didn’t think about the future until they gave the list.

How did you celebrate when the list was made official?

I was in the room. I cried because I am very aware of the battles I have had to overcome, the internal wars I have had and the sleepless nights I have spent. It is 15 years in which I have had to overcome many obstacles and it is a feeling of gratification for the award and for knowing that this is a new demonstration that everything I have done has not been in vain.

Can you safely say that this is the greatest joy of your sporting career?

Yes, definitely.

Even more than the Queen’s Cup with Casademont Zaragoza in Zaragoza?

That was very special, but playing in the Olympic Games is on another level. Being able to tell my children and grandchildren that I played in the Games and that I was an Olympian is the best.

You have always said that before signing for Zaragoza you were in a bad way and even considered retiring from basketball. If that Mariona from the first half of 2022 was assured that she would be an Olympian two summers later, would she have believed it?

No way, not at all. It wasn’t the first time I was in a very dark place from which it was very difficult for me to get out. I had other episodes of depression before and throughout this process there have been many bad times, also good ones, but many bad ones and many internal wars with my head that have been very complicated days.

So, if you had told me those days to be patient because days like these would come, I wouldn’t have believed you. One thing I’m very proud of is that the reference I had was for me, for wanting to be better.

How many times have you thought about quitting basketball or had a really bad time?

When I left Perfumerías in November 2015 at the age of 23, I had a bout of depression, then when I played in Poland I also had a bad time and then the one with Estudiantes in 2022. The latter and the one with Perfumerías are the two that were the worst.

Is it difficult to go from being an ostracized player to being an example for an entire city like Zaragoza and next year even the team captain? Have you had the feeling of losing your mind?

Not at all. When Ricky said ‘never too high, never too low’ I loved it and I tried to apply it in my daily life because I’ve often been at the bottom and almost never at the top. Extremes aren’t good and I’ve never been at the top, not even today. I don’t consider myself the best, far from it. I’ve never had that problem, I’ve been more demanding and self-destructive towards myself than anything else.

But you can say that you have become an example for many girls and boys in Zaragoza and Aragon, now those who start playing basketball want to be Mariona Ortiz.

The only thing I want you to see through me is that it’s not about comparing. Sometimes the path will have bad things and good things, each one has to find their own, some get the rewards later and others success from the start, but the most important thing is that throughout that path one does not stop being better, fighting every day and believing in oneself, whether in basketball or in any aspect of life.

You are the third oldest in terms of age, but you made your debut this year with Spain and you are the oldest of all the newcomers to make her debut at the Games. Is it easy to accept this fact, which is so contradictory, coming from being the captain and leader of Zaragoza?

Yes, it is very easy, I just didn’t expect it. They are different things, at Casademont Zaragoza I have one role and here another. Throughout my life I have learned to adapt to the different roles I have had and I am very grateful to Miguel for being here and for giving me the opportunity. I am only going to make things easier.

What does Mariona Ortiz bring to Spain and what does Miguel Méndez ask of you?

I want to try to be myself and I want to help in any way I can. I am a tall point guard who can post up, I am also very organized and that is what I think I can contribute in every game. Miguel already knows the type of player I am and I am going to try to help in any way I can and if not I will cheer from the bench like anyone else without any problem.

After the bad summer of 2021 that left you without a World Cup, you recovered again and became runners-up in Europe in 2023, losing the final in the last quarter. In the Pre-Olympic you won two out of three games. Can we say that Spain has returned, if it ever left?

In the end, there are times of ups and downs, it happens in all teams and in all sports with a few exceptions. Last year, with the silver medal at the European Championships, it was shown that they were back there to compete at the top and that what happened in 2021 made them grow and become stronger. We also demonstrated that in the Pre-Olympic and we want to do it again now in Paris.

What is your ambition for the Olympics or what is your goal? Do you dream of winning a medal?

I think that saying a medal is dreaming very high, the ambition has to be to try to win as many games as possible, compete as much as possible and see where the competition puts us. In the end there are 12 teams and they are all great teams.

Are you more of a Meghan Gustafson or Astou Ndour fan?

(Laughs) They are both very good players, very good people and the coach has decided to look for the best for the team and everyone agrees with her and we are going 100% with Meghan.

You mentioned Ricky Rubio earlier and his motto ‘never too high, never too low’. You are studying psychology and he has been one of the first men in the world of sport to speak openly about his mental health problems. How important is it for an athlete like him to do this?

Very much so, mental health is very important for everyone, but certainly more so for elite athletes because we have a lot of media exposure and very tough demands and a great responsibility. I have been doing therapy intermittently for six years and for me it is the change that has made me feel so good in my life today.

Going to therapy is the best decision I have ever made in my life and I recommend that all those people who don’t know how to find a way out or find solutions ask for help, which is not bad at all. Examples like this one from Ricky help a lot to normalize it because athletes are idolized a lot and many times you only see the good part, but not the bad part, which is that they are and we are human beings and we are not always okay.

You always highlight women’s sport and this year 192 women and 190 men are going to the Games, confirming the social change of the last decades. Why is this value not given to women’s sport during the year?

Because we have less media exposure. It is very difficult for boys and girls to want to follow something that they cannot see. It is very important that women’s sport is on television, on the radio and in newspapers like men’s sport and this is something that Aragón TV has done very well with Casademont Zaragoza. The fact that the regional television broadcasts all the matches has caused a boom and that is why we see many boys and girls who now want to be like Vega Gimeno.

Then there is the false myth that women’s sport doesn’t sell and is boring. You only have to look at you, who have filled the Príncipe Felipe stadium as much or more than the men’s team or the audiences that the women’s football team has generated.

Exactly, but that’s because they’ve had the chance to see us. If they can see us, they’ll get hooked like they did with the Casademont and like they did with the men’s event, I’m convinced.

Have you thought about anything to celebrate an Olympic medal?

I have no idea, I have no plans.