- When you come to Barcelona, is it for work or pleasure?
- I come to Barcelona as if I was coming home. People from Sabadell say that Barcelona is our coastal neighbourhood, and it is a joke which has some truth in it, because it is really a prolongation of our home with the sea. I come to have dinner, buy clothes... I always have a reason.
- Would you like to live here for a while?
- On the one hand I would love to; but on the other, I would have a problem with the traffic and the noise. When you get used to a place as calm as Bellaterra, the only thing you miss is the convenience of living in the centre.
- Which neighbourhoods and streets do you like most?
- Those in the upper areas of the city, because of the houses and the views over the city, but also by the sea, where I could train every day, all year round.
- Do you have any favourite cinemas, theatres or clubs?
- Absolutely all of them. I don't have time, but if I lived the life of a normal person, I would never stop: the cinema, the theatre, the pubs; I would go to the Liceu and stroll along the Rambla... However, I normally go to bed at 8 because I get up at 4.40 in the morning, and I am training at 5.
- Any restaurant, tavern or café?
- My favourite is the Thaï Gardens, but I also go to those in the Port Olímpic and in the Born.
- Do you go shopping when you are in Barcelona? What sort of shops do you go to?
- I mainly buy clothes in the Passeig de Gràcia. I like Armand Basi, Lacoste, Custo, Miró... Clothes that are modern as well as elegant and fashionable.
- Do you recall any places, public or private, where you have felt at home with the place and the people right away?
- Barceloneta. It is right by the sea and you can smell it. This opens the lungs as well as the mind. By the sea, you make friends immediately.
- And any place (a park, a café, a bench in a square) to have a romantic date, or to whisper sweet nothings in someone's ear?
- The restaurant, bar and gardens of La Florida, the hotel on Tibidabo. At night, in the dark, and with the lights of the city tickling your feet, it is unforgettable. Also the Mirablau, and the Mirabé...
- It's obvious that you don't need a guide in Barcelona, it's more likely that you have to show visitors around...
- As I lived in America for many years, I have a lot of friends who come to see me. First I take them to the Sagrada Família and they are all left speechless, I think it is difficult to find somebody who isn't. Then, as most are from the world of sport, I show them the stadium and the Vila Olímpica; and also the lighted fountains of Montjuïc, when it has colour and music, which also impresses them a lot.
- What place or monument, between the sea Tibidabo, impresses or interests you most?
- Colón, where the Golondrinas leave from. When I arrive, I have a smile on my face, because it is where, in 2003, they had the world championships, and I won two medals. That day I achieved one of my greatest dreams: to be a prophet in my own land.
- What is the most appropriate, funny or surprising adjective you have herd to describe Barcelona? Which one would you use?
- I like it when visitors are left with their mouths open, speechless. The particularly happens with the architecture: Gaudí, the modernist architects... Then they are amazed by aspects of everyday life, for example how late we eat. I would say: Barcelona, Mediterranean and European. Because we have the sun and the fun, but also the Mediterranean cultural base, and the seriousness and culture which has marked Europe in recent centuries.
- What colours or smells, when you see or smell them anywhere in the world, remind you immediately of Barcelona?
- The smell of the salt, and the blue of the sky and the sea together, forming a whole.
- Do you miss Barcelona, or anything about it, when you think about the city?
- When I am abroad, I miss the food mainly, and the friendliness and educated behaviour of the people.
- Which of the changes that have been made in the city recently are you happiest with?
- Everything they have done by the sea. Even though there have been problems, all together I think it has been very positive in creating a modern city. Because it was already pretty.
- What don't you like and what would you do to change it?
- I think not enough is done to make the city cleaner and less noisy.
- Add anything you would like to say and that we haven't asked.
- Barcelona is the capital of our land and we have to look after it. Not only for those who come, but for ourselves. I said about cleanliness: we shouldn't wait for everything to be done for us, we have to collaborate. Any paper or object that we throw to the ground, this piece of paper, this object, ends up in the sea, on a journey that does no more than make things even dirtier. If we want a cleaner city, we should be more careful, us first.