Clara Basiana Cañellas (born 23 January 1991 in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
) is a Spanish competitor in
synchronized swimming
Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...
since 2009. She won a bronze medal in the team competition at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
. Her mother, Antonia Cañellas, was also a national champion in synchronised swimming.
Basiana Cañellas retired in 2016, after Spain did not qualify for the Olympics.
Career
Under 15
2006''
SEVILLA Co.me.n Cup silver medal TEAM, gold medal COMBO.
Junior
2007''
CALELLA European Championships silver medal TEAM and COMBO.
2008''
ANGERS European Championships silver medal TEAM and COMBO
SAINT PETERSBOURG World Championships 7th COMBO and 6th TEAM.
2009''
GLOUCESTER European Championships bronze medal TEAM and COMBO, silver medal DUET.
Senior
2009''
ROME World Championships gold medal COMBO.
2010''
BUDAPEST European Championships silver medal TEAM and COMBO.
2011''
SHANGHAI World Championships bronze medal TEAM TECH and TEAM FREE.
2012''
LONDON Olympic Games bronze medal TEAM
EINDHOVEN European Championships gold medal TEAM and COMBO.
2013''
BARCELONA World Championships silver medal TEAM TECH, TEAM FREE and COMBO.
2014 BERLIN European Championships
Post-career and controversy
While serving as television commentator for an Olympic qualifying event, Basiana said the Israeli team's presence in the competition "is another strategy for whitewash the genocide and violations of human rights that they're committing against the Palestinian people.
..We've seen it repeatedly in Eurovision, and it’s as though the war crimes of the State of Israel are erased and we’d like to point this out to the viewers so as not to normalize it."
Basiana was praised in some quarters for speaking "truth" about Israeli human rights violations, while others argued that she improperly conflated politics and sport and that imputing Israeli governmental policies to Israeli athletes was equivalent to associating Basiana, a former Spanish national team member, with abusive Spanish practices in Catalonia.
Critics also observed that Basiana gave no comment on the human rights issues surrounding the second-place Belarusian team, even though the tournament occurred shortly after Belarus' high-profile hijacking of
Ryanair Flight 4978
Ryanair Flight 4978 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Athens International Airport, Greece, to Vilnius Airport, Lithuania, operated by the Polish subsidiary Buzz. On 23 May 2021, while in Belarusian airspace, it was ...
.
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Basiana, Clara
1991 births
Living people
Spanish synchronized swimmers
Olympic synchronized swimmers for Spain
Olympic medalists in synchronized swimming
Olympic bronze medalists for Spain
Synchronized swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
World Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming
Synchronized swimmers at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships
Synchronized swimmers at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships
Synchronized swimmers at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships
Synchronized swimmers at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships
European Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming
Swimmers from Barcelona