“Women who move sport”: Laia Palau, a path to success 

04/12/2020 - 06:34

Women and Sport. Laia Palau plays for Uni Girona CB and Spain’s national basketball team 

The third figure in “Women who move sport” series of reports is Laia Palau (Barcelona, 1979), a symbol of Catalan and Spanish basketball. Aged 41, she is still on the top level of European basketball, captaining Uni Girona and the Spanish team. She had previously played close to 300 caps in Spain, with the Spanish team, and in teams inFrance, Poland, the Czech Republic and Australia, places where she built up highly successful careers. She has won two European leagues, six Spanish leagues, four French leagues, one Polish league and three European gold medals, an Olympic silver medal and a world silver medal, among other awards.  

Despite all that, she believes her achievements have still not received all the recognition they deserve: “There’s been a bit more resonance over the last few years. But we’ve doing things pretty well over for many years now and we’re managing to win. And we’ve always got to show we’re top. And we’ll appreciate that when we don’t have it”. And that’s because Laia Palau is the player with the most caps in international matches and medals in Spanish basketball, beating other players such as Joan Carles Navarro and Pau Gasol. “Women’s sport is based on a worse infrastructure than the men’s. Because the world of sport has always been one with more men than women. I’m not asking for equality, but I’d like equal opportunities”, she states. 

Laia Palau is everything and has won everything in the world of basketball. Her highly successful sports career has made her a basketball benchmark over here. Even so, she is aware that nothing has ever been handed to her and that she is still appreciated because she continues to persevere: “I’ve been doing the same thing for many years, I hope perseverance is appreciated, that things never end and that, however much you win one day, unless you show the next day that you’re able to win again, it’s all for nothing”. 

Laia Palau’s basketball CV is brilliant and extensive. Hidden away behind all her successes are her original strong ties with our city. She began to play basketball very young in the Les Corts neighbourhood, taking the leap afterwards to SAFA Claror, and Barcelona University’s training team, which she made her début with in the highest State-level competition at the junior (16-18 year-old) stage. Barcelona University subsequently reached an agreement with FC Barcelona to become the club’s second women’s basketball section, the team that Laia Palau would achieve her first success with: the 2002-03 Spanish league. She has great memories of that time: “For someone from Barcelona to end up playing for the city’s biggest brand club is an honour”. And although she currently continues to play in Girona, she does not rule out returning to the city that saw her grow: “It’s clear I’d like to return to Barcelona. Maybe not as a player, but I’d like to work in some other way on a powerful Barcelona project”.  

* Some of the images from this video interview were provided by the Catalan Basketball Federation