Teresa Portela

Set to appear in a record-breaking six Olympic Games, Teresa Portela is a Spanish sprint canoeist who has been a mainstay in international canoe competitions since 2000. She has won a total of 16 medals from World Championships and 17 medals from European Championships and continues to compete in International Canoe Federation events annually.

After making her Olympic debut in Sydney at the age of 18, Portela has become a regular participant in the Summer Olympics. Often competing in 500 metre and 200 metre solo sprints, Portela consistently finishes near the top of the field in her competitions, narrowly missing an Olympic medal several times. Following her appearance in the Tokyo games, she will tie two other Spanish athletes with six total Olympic appearances and will be the first Spanish woman to ever reach this milestone. She has seen similar success in International Canoe Federation tournaments and European Championships, winning dozens of medals across 20 years of senior level events.

Portela has been canoeing for three decades and continues to be a force in canoeing competitions at nearly 40 years old. She gave birth to her daughter Naira in 2013 and incredibly won bronze at the ICF World Cup just 17 months later. Undoubtedly an icon of female sports, Portela shows no signs of slowing down and has not ruled out a seventh Olympic appearance in the future. In 2017, she earned gold in the K1 200 metre event at the World Championships. In 2019, she earned bronze in the same event and also took home silver in the K1 200M at the World Cup in Duisburg, Germany.