Beatriz Gómez Hermosilla, arrows against fraud

His story with the sport began not with planning or an early calling, but with a stroke of luck. “I lived near an archery club without knowing it. One day, while walking with friends, I saw someone shooting on a football field. I approached. They invited me to try. And I stayed.” I was thirteen. What he found there was not just a discipline, but a way of life. “It’s a sport that involves constant improvement. Every day is different. “You’re trying to get all the arrows to go to the same place, and it’s not easy at all.”

In Castile-La Mancha, where she grew up, female participation was low. This allowed him to quickly stand out. Soon after he started, he was already competing. At the age of sixteen he won his first absolute Spanish championship. This victory will mark her future: she is invited to move to the High Performance Center in Madrid, in the Joaquín Blume residence. “It was an important step. He led an orderly life: studies and training. The environment was healthy. We shared free time playing cards or chatting. And there I met great athletes who later became leaders in Spain. “In her class there was, for example, Saúl Craviotto, who shares with her the profession of police officer. “There was also Chema Martínez, the Carballo brothers, Almudena Cid… Many athletes who distinguished themselves later. “

He studied journalism, although his choice was more linked to compatibility than to a firm vocation. “I loved reading and writing, I excelled at it. I knew I needed something manageable because I was always competing. “I couldn’t afford a career that required a lot of memorization or invest too many hours of study.”

But as he studied, something unexpected arose: a lingering attraction to the Police. “I saw a patrol car and I had a hunch. “That got my attention a lot.” Although she had a family background – her grandfather was a police commissioner, her uncle was also a police officer – no one had pushed her in this direction. It was my own decision. And radical.

He decided to oppose it. Despite his high performance journey, he admits that physically he was far from what was required. “I wasn’t good at running or doing weight training. “I had to start from scratch.” He settled in Ávila, where he prepared the opposition with the National Police School. In one year, he passed the basic scale; in two, the executive. During the basic course, I studied executive in the afternoon. “It was my usual routine: demanding, but familiar. Training and studying was what he had done his whole life.

During this period, filming was suspended. Not entirely: he never stopped paying the federal license, nor his club dues. “I knew he would come back. “I wanted to continue to be a part of it, even if I wasn’t competing.” And he obeyed. As soon as she finished her inspector training, she took up the bow and qualified for the national team. “I went to class in the morning and in the afternoon I trained and competed. “It was an intense stage, but very rewarding.”

Then, from his first mission, he once again put sport aside. “I had to constantly travel and work long hours away from home. “It wasn’t compatible.” Then came motherhood. Time fragmented again. But the ark was still there.

Today, Beatriz is a key figure in the fight against digital fraud. As chief inspector, she coordinates two groups which investigate crimes linked to bank cards, cryptocurrencies, fraudulent transfers or online payment methods. “As we are a central unit, we deal with complex cases, with many victims and a strong economic impact. It is a very operational and very varied profession. “You touch on many branches of organized crime.”

In this area, the change has been dizzying. “It’s evolving every day. You can’t afford to stop training. We are in contact with other police forces, with cybersecurity companies, with international forums. We learn from each investigation, because the criminal has 24 hours a day to innovate. We go behind, trying to understand how they do it. In his professional field, he also won medals. He is the only Spanish security force agent decorated by the United States Secret Service.

To all this, Beatriz added her return to competition. But this time, not in Olympic precision, but in field shooting. “After six years without competition, I wanted to try something new. And I loved it. You walk in the forest with the bow, the backpack, the sandwich. “It’s like a little adventure.” In his first two grands prix, he won silver. Then he won the Spanish championship. All with virtually no training. “I’m even ashamed to say it, but at the moment I barely train. I go from competition to competition. “That’s what keeps me going.”

Despite everything, he also does not rule out returning to the Olympic modality, an effort that he is undertaking thanks to the support of two sponsors: Armora and Kripteria. In fact, he wants to participate in the national team playoffs. “It’s a thorn in my side. I don’t know if I can take it off. But I’m in no hurry. Archery has no age limit. “I have seen Olympic champions over fifty years old.”

Maternity, work, time, logistics. Everything seems to be working against us. But she doesn’t dramatize. “I don’t think about problems until they happen. When they arrive, I look for a way to resolve them. The same life lesson that he uses in his daily life within the Police. Because sport, he says, taught him to move forward without certainties. “An opposition is not won by the most intelligent, but by the most consistent. I don’t consider myself a very intelligent person. I consider myself very consistent and ambitious. In sport, you train for something that might not happen, but you keep going every day.

He applied the same rigor to his police work. “I like to be thorough. I like rigor. And I learned this through sport. When there is strong competition, you cannot afford to deviate. “You have to be precise, like in an investigation.”