Paloma del Río

Paloma del Río Cañadas (born 4 April 1960) is a Spanish journalist. She covers rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics, figure skating, and equestrian competitions for Televisión Española (TVE). She has held various positions in TVE's sports directorate – editor-in-chief (2009), director of sports programs (2009–2013), and currently coordinator of sponsorships and federations.

Paloma del Río
Born
Paloma del Río Cañadas

(1960-04-04) 4 April 1960
Madrid, Spain
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
OccupationJournalist
EmployerTelevisión Española
AwardsRoyal Order of Sports Merit (2015)

She has covered several European and World Championships, as well as eight Summer and six Winter Olympic Games. In 2015 she was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, and that same year, she published her autobiographical book Enredando en la memoria (Tangled in Memory).

She is considered part of the generation of pioneering women in Spanish sports journalism, along with Mari Carmen Izquierdo, Mercedes Milá, María Antonia Martínez, Elena Sánchez Caballero, Olga Viza, Mari Cruz Esteban, and María Escario.[1]

Biography

Paloma del Río was born in Madrid in 1960.[2] After completing the Baccalaureate, she took a clinical assistant course and began to work on the night shift of the intensive care unit of the Ruber Clinic in Madrid to pay for her studies.[2] In her free time, she continued with Curso de Orientación Universitaria (COU) studies, and majored in journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid without leaving work. She finished her degree with the second best record, so in 1986, she was able to choose a scholarship from the Instituto RTVE to do internships in television, in the sports section of the news. After a few months, she passed some exams that allowed her to maintain her position at TVE.

Paloma del Río (center) with Las Niñas de Oro and El Equipaso at the presentation of the Royal Order of Sports Merit (2015)

After a reorganization of the information services, she began to carry out sports broadcasts, the first of which was a table tennis match in Seville. The following month, in June 1987, she covered the Rhythmic Gymnastics Spanish Individual Championships for La 2 from Palma de Mallorca (replacing Maria Escario, who began to present newscasts). After this she was a commentator for similar events, such as the World Championships, the European Championships, the World Cup (2016–2018), and the Euskalgym (2017). Later, she also began to cover artistic gymnastics (replacing Olga Viza, who left to present Estadio 2 in Barcelona). From 1988 to 1989, del Río was deputy director of Domingo Deporte. After a time she also began to broadcast equestrian events, and beginning in 1994, figure skating. Throughout the years, she has commentated alongside former practitioners of these sports, such as José Novillo on broadcasts of artistic gymnastics, and Susana Mendizábal, Maisa Lloret, María Martín, and Almudena Cid on rhythmic gymnastics.[3]

Paloma on the roof of the RTVE studios in Torrespaña during the documentary Hijas de Cynisca (2019)

From 2005 to 2008, she was editor of the program Olímpicos. ADO 2008, and later was the editor of broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics.[4][5] In September 2011 she and María Escario were awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD).[6]

On 31 August 2015, she was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, becoming the first journalist to receive it.[7] On 16 November of that year, she presented her book of sports and personal memories, Enredando en la memoria, at CSD headquarters, where she also received her Gold Medal.[7] In June 2017, she was the ambassador of the Pride Games.[8] Since 17 September 2017, she has contributed a sports segment to the program No es un día cualquiera on Radio Nacional de España.[9] She has been a speaker at many conferences, round tables, and presentations on topics such as Women and Sport, Minority Sports, and Olympism.

In July 2018, her candidacy for the presidency of RTVE was announced, although in December, she did not pass the final cut and was left out of the list of the 20 candidates to preside over the public entity. Subsequently, she and other excluded candidates filed an appeal against this decision, still pending resolution by lawyers of the Congress.[10]

Personal life

Paloma del Río is openly lesbian.[1] In June 2015, she appeared on the list of the 50 most influential homosexuals in Spain, prepared by El Mundo's La Otra Crónica.[11] During WorldPride Madrid 2017 she explained in an interview that "I never thought that I should be ashamed to be a lesbian" and indicated that Martina Navratilova had been a role model for her.[12]

Selected list of competitions covered

Awards and recognitions
  • 2nd Prize of the Arturo Barea Young Adult Novel Award for Nunca tendrás los ojos de la serpiente, granted by the Community of Madrid (1982)
  • Ondas Award, shared with the rest of the TVE operation for coverage of the Seoul Summer Olympics (1988)
  • Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, awarded by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (2011)[6]
  • Talent Award from the Television Academy (2011)
  • Recognition of the International Association of Sports Journalists (AIPS) along with other journalists who have covered more than 10 Olympic Games (2012)[13]
  • Madrid Women's Career Award (2014)[14]
  • Press, Radio, and Television Award, granted by the city council of Cornellà de Llobregat (2014)[15]
  • Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, awarded by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (2015)[7]
  • Best Communicator in Sport at the Women, Sports, and Business Awards, presented at the 1st Iberian Congress on Women, Sports, and Business (2015)[16]
  • Juan Manuel Gozalo Award, from the Spanish Olympic Committee (2015)[17]
  • Recognition of the AIPS, along with other journalists who have covered more than 10 Olympic Games (2016)[18]
  • Special award at the 19th Sports Gala of Onda Cero Almeria (2016)[19]
  • Special award at the 23rd Sports Gala of the Segovia Sports Press Association (2017)[20]
  • BaezaDiversa Award in the Sports category, awarded by the city council of Baeza (2018)[21]

Publications
  • Nunca tendrás los ojos de la serpiente (1982)
  • Enredando en la memoria (2015), Editorial Libros.com, ISBN 978-8416616084
  • El papel de las mujeres en el deporte (2019), Editorial Santillana

She has also written the prologue of El origen del deporte femenino en España (2015) by Jorge García García,[22] and the epilogue of Nosotras. Historias del olvidado deporte femenino (2018) by Rubén Guerrero.

Filmography
Year Title Character Notes Director
2016 La satisfacción es para siempre Herself (voice) Short promotional documentary from Freixenet Jorge Palomar
2018 Más que plata Herself (voice) Short documentary Carlos Agulló
2019 Hijas de Cynisca Herself Documentary Beatriz Carretero

References
  1. Ferrero, Clara (30 June 2015). "'No creo que Del Bosque le diga a Ramos "sé un hombre y ponme un gin tonic"'" ['I Don't Believe That Del Bosque Told Ramos "Be a Man and Give Me a Gin and Tonic"']. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  2. de Matesanz, Carlos (June 2006). "Paloma del Río: 'Vivir el deporte es la mejor manera de comunicarlo'" [Paloma del Río: 'Living Sports is the Best Way to Communicate It']. KANE 3 (in Spanish). No. 9. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  3. Filgueira, Álvaro Alonso (2 October 2014). "Entrevista. Paloma del Río: 'El Olimpismo es lo más grande que he podido vivir'" [Interview. Paloma del Río: 'Olympism is the Greatest Thing I've Ever Been Able to Experience'] (in Spanish). Vavel. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  4. "Perfil" [Profile] (in Spanish). RTVE Blogs. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  5. Olalquiaga, Fernando (18 February 2012). "Paloma del Río: 'Los derechos de deportes nunca son rentables para las televisiones. Está sobredimensionado'" [Paloma del Río: 'Sports Rights are Never Profitable for Television. It is Oversized.']. JotDown (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  6. "María Escario y Paloma del Río, de TVE, Medalla de Plata del Mérito Deportivo" [María Escario and Paloma del Río, from TVE, Silver Medal for Sports Merit]. ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. 2 September 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  7. "Paloma del Río recibe la medalla de oro de la Real Orden del Mérito Deportivo" [Paloma del Río Receives the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  8. "La periodista Paloma del Río será embajadora de los Juegos del Orgullo 2017" [The Journalist Paloma del Río to Be the Ambassador of the 2017 Pride Games]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  9. "No es un día cualquiera – Paloma del Río" (in Spanish). RTVE. 17 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  10. Rodríguez, Vanesa; Méndez, M. (30 July 2018). "Paloma del Río, la mítica voz del deporte, candidata a presidenta de RTVE: 'Tenemos que volver a ser referencia'" [Paloma del Río, the Legendary Voice of Sport, Candidate for President of RTVE: 'We Have to Be a Reference Again']. eldiario.es Vertele (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  11. Romo, José Luis (27 June 2015). "Paloma del Río: 'Los deportistas gays se quedan en la retaguardia'" [Paloma del Río: 'Gay Sportspeople are Left Behind']. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  12. Bas, Javier J. (27 June 2017). "'Nunca pensé que tuviera que avergonzarme por ser lesbiana'" ['I Never Thought That I Should Be Ashamed to Be a Lesbian'] (in Spanish). Madrid: Cadena SER. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  13. "La periodista de TVE Paloma del Río, premiada por la Asociación Internacional de Periodistas Deportivos" [The TVE Journalist Paloma del Río, Awarded by the International Association of Sports Journalists] (in Spanish). Madrid. Europa Press. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  14. "La Carrera de la Mujer Madrid 2014 vestirá de corto a 30.000 runners femeninas" [The 2014 Madrid Women's Race to Dress 30,000 Women Runners]. El Correo (in Spanish). 29 April 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  15. "Paloma del Río, de TVE, Premio de Prensa, Radio y Televisión del Ayuntamiento de Cornellà de Llobregat" [Paloma del Río, of TVE, Press, Radio, and Television Award from the City Council of Cornellà de Llobregat] (in Spanish). RTVE. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  16. "Los I Premios Mujer, Deporte y Empresa reconocen el trabajo femenino" [1st Women, Sports, and Business Awards Recognize Women's Work] (in Spanish). Government of Extremadura. 12 November 2015. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  17. "Paloma del Río, Premio Juan Manuel Gonzalo del COE" (in Spanish). Spanish Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  18. Nikcevic, Sonja (7 August 2016). "HRH Prince Albert of Monaco to join celebration of AIPS Journalists on the Podium". Rio de Janeiro: International Association of Sports Journalists. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  19. "Onda Deportiva Almería" (in Spanish). Onda Cero. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  20. "La prensa deportiva de Segovia celebró la Gala del Deporte" [The Segovian Sports Press Celebrates the Sports Gala]. Segovia al día (in Spanish). 4 February 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  21. "La X gala 'Baeza por la Diversidad' se celebrará el sábado 22 de septiembre a las 21.00h en el Teatro Montemar" [The 10th 'Baeza for Diversity' Gala to be Celebrated Saturday 22 September at 21:00h at the Teatro Montemar] (in Spanish). Government of [[Baeza, Spain|]]. 14 September 2018. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  22. "El origen del deporte femenino en España" (in Spanish). Jorge García García. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
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