Carmen Valero, double world champion in cross-country in 1976 and 1977 and the first Spanish Olympic athlete, died on Tuesday as a result of a stroke suffered last week and for which she was admitted to intensive care, according to the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation.

Valero, 68, was born in the Teruel town of Castelserás on October 4, 1955, although he soon left for Catalonia, settling in Sabadell, where he died. "I feel half Catalan and half skill," she said on different occasions.

He started in athletics in 1969 with coach Josep Molins - who died in March 2023 - at Joventut Atlètica de Sabadell, where he began to stand out.

She was the first Spanish Olympic athlete, at the 1976 Montreal Games, in which she competed in the 800 and 1,500 meters. In addition, his track record includes 15 Spanish track championships in distances such as 3,000 and 5,000 meters and those two world cross-country championships in Chepstow 1976 and Düsseldorf 1977, being 25 times international and national record holder of the 800, 1500 and 3,000 meters in those years.

"Carmen Valero has left us. Our pioneer. The woman who paved the way. The mother of our athletics. The first female Olympian. Two-time World Cross Country World Champion. The best Spanish athlete of the 20th century. Thank you, Carmen, we will be eternally grateful. D.E.P," the RFEA said on the social network X.

One of Carmen Valero's last public appearances took place in May 2023, at the IV Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo Memorial, held on the ash track of the Complutense University of Madrid, where she was paid tribute by the Spanish Association of Athletics Statisticians, which chose her as the best female athlete of the twentieth century.

"Today is a very sad day, it is impossible for us to say goodbye to the woman who transformed our history. Carmen was an innate talent in the midst of almost impossible circumstances for women. Today we are what we are, thanks to her. We will never forget you. DEP," wrote Raúl Chapado, president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, in X.

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