ATHLETE PROFILE

Susana Rodríguez was born with a very severe visual impairment due to a genetic condition known as albinism which affects 1 in 20.000.
The passion for the care of humean health started when Rodriguez was only a kid; In 2009, she ended her physiotherapy degree in Vigo University and in 2015 she graduated in medicine at Santiago de Compostela University becoming the first blind person in the country to achieve this goal. In 2016 she started to work at Santiago de Compostela Univesitary Hospital as an intern in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Since childhood, she has combined a strong dedication to her studies with the determination of becoming one day a good athlete. In 1998 as a 10 year old girl Rodriguez had the first opportunity of entering a sports competition event and got to know the world of adaptive sports after a teacher of ONCE (Spanish National Organization of Blind People) observed in her good qualities for running and long jump. She started her sports career as a sprinter in Para Athletics achieving junior world titles but faund a big obstacle in 2008 when having the required qualifying time she was not finally selected to participate at Beijin Summer Paralympic Games.

Rodriguez switched her sports career to Paratriathlon in 2010 and by now she has achieved 52 intenational podiums including 30 wins. In 2016 she competed at Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games with Mabel Gallardo, a sighted guide, finishing in a good 5th position that Susana wanted to improve.

In 2020 and after 4 years of combining professional training with her job at the hospital Rodriguez qualified to participate at 2020 Tokio Paralympics being the first Spaniard athlete to compete in two sports at the same edition of the Games (triathlon and athletics). In Japan all the hard work paid of and Susana became Paralympic Champion at the PTVI paratriathlon event alongside with her guide Sara Loehr. In addition, Rodriguez has obtained to date 8 medals at Paratriathlon World Championships (including 4 golds) between 2012 an 2021 and also 6 medals at European Championships (including 2 golds).

In 2016, Rodríguez competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with her guide Mabel Gallardo, finishing fifth in the individual triathlon event. She qualified to participate in the 2020 Summer Paralympics, being the first Spaniard to compete in two sports in the Paralympic Games: triathlon and athletics. She became the Paralym- pic triathlon champion in the PTVI class with her guide Sara Loehr. In addition, she became a candidate for the Athletes’ Council of the International Paralympic Commit- tee. Rodríguez won a gold medal at Tokyo 2020 in the PTVI category. In addition, she obtained seven medals in the Adapted Triathlon World Championship between 2012 and 2019, and six medals in the Adapted Triathlon World Championship between 2013 and 2019.

Susana believes when one dream is achieved a new one starts to grow so she is determined to keep working hard in order to create new opportunities of success.

TITLES OF THE ATHLETE

Paralimpics Games:
•Paralimpic Gold Champion Triatlon (Tokyo 2020)

World championship Triatlon PVI:
•World championship 2012 (Auckland)
•World championship 2018 (Gold Coast)
•World championship 2019 (Laussanne)
•World championship 2021 (Abu Dabi)

European Champion:
•European Champion 2014 (Kitzbuhel)
•European Champion 2019 (Valencia)

World Ranking (1) 2021

European Champion:
•European Champion 2014 (Kitzbuhel)
•European Champion 2019 (Valencia)