ESPAR LLAQUET Anna

Date of Birth: 8 Jan 1993

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Height (m/ft): 1.80/5'10''

Place of birth: BARCELONA

Birth Country:

Spain

Place of residence : BARCELONA

Residence Country:

Spain

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Water Polo	Women ESP Spain	2

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Preliminary Round - Group A #02 RSA South Africa 4 ESP Spain 29	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Preliminary Round - Group A #07 ESP Spain 14 CAN Canada 10	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Preliminary Round - Group A #10 NED Netherlands 14 ESP Spain 13	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Preliminary Round - Group A #14 ESP Spain 15 AUS Australia 9	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Quarterfinal #21 ESP Spain 11 CHN China 7	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Semifinal #27 ESP Spain 8 HUN Hungary 6	Finished
	Tatsumi Water Polo Centre	Women's Gold Medal Match #32 ESP Spain 5 USA United States 14	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Olympic Games

Rank	Event	Year	Location
2	Women	2012	London, GBR
5	Women	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA

World Championship

Rank	Event	Year	Location
1	Women	2013	Barcelona, ESP
2	Women	2019	Gwangju, KOR
2	Women	2017	Budapest, HUN
7	Women	2015	Kazan, RUS
11	Women	2011	Shanghai, CHN

World League - Super Final

Rank	Event	Year	Location
5	Women	2021	Athens, GRE
5	Women	2018	Kunshan, CHN

Rank	Event	Year	Location
4	Women	2018	Surgut, RUS

European Championship

Rank	Event	Year	Location
1	Women	2020	Budapest, HUN
3	Women	2018	Barcelona, ESP

Anni (aesportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

Travel, reading, spending time with friends. (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

Occupation:

Business Administration - University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Languages spoken:

Catalan, English, Spanish

CN Mataro [Spain] since 2019

Dani Ballart [club], ESP; Miguel Angel Oca [national], ESP

Position style:

Driver (as.com, 26 Jul 2019)

Right (wpbelgrade2016.microplustiming.com, 10 Jan 2016)

Sporting relatives:

Her sister Clara Espar has represented Spain in water polo and was part of the team that won silver at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Republic of Korea. Her father is former Barcelona handball coach Xesco Espar. (SportsDeskOnline, 15 Jan 2020; esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019; rfen.es, 17 May 2016; chueca.com, 15 May 2011)

She had surgery on a damaged ligament in her right hand in August 2017. (eurosport.es, 03 Aug 2017)

National league:

Division de Honor [ESP] (as.com, 16 Mar 2021)

She began playing water polo at age 12 at the Mediterrani club in Barcelona, Spain. (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

"I started swimming at the Mediterrani [sports club] and also played basketball and tennis. In particular swimming seemed very boring to me. I saw water polo being played and I liked it as a team sport. So I tried it and having a ball in my hands was really fun." (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

To win gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (larepublicaesportiva.cat, 19 Apr 2019)

Winning silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal. (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

In 2020 she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Barcelona City Council. (beteve.cat, 17 Dec 2020)

Alongside her teammates in the Spanish national team, she received the Extraordinary Medal for Sports Merit from the Spanish Swimming Federation in recognition of the bronze medal they won at the 2018 European Championships in Barcelona, Spain. (rfen.es, 04 Oct 2018)

She was named in the Australian National Water Polo League All-Star team in 2017. (waterpoloaustralia.com.au, 09 Apr 2017)

In 2014 she was presented with the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit in Spain. (europapress.es, 02 Dec 2014)

In October 2012 she was named European Female Water Polo Player of the Year by the European Swimming Federation [LEN]. (mundodeportivo.com, 24 Oct 2012)

She was selected for the All-Star team at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (usctrojans.com, 01 Jan 2013)

General Interest

General
CLUB CHANGE
In May 2019 she announced her departure from CN Sabadell, where she had played for 10 years, to join CN Mataro for the next three seasons. "I was in a club where we always won and we didn't have much competition, especially in the league. I played in the United States of America and Australia, and to win the league I had to fight and sweat a lot every game until the last second. Here, in Mataro, we have to fight a lot of games to win and I need that competitiveness." (totmataro.cat, 23 May 2019; lesportiudecatalunya.cat, 23 May 2019)

TIME ABROAD
She studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, United States of America, where she played water polo for the college's Trojans team. She also spent about four months playing for the Sydney University Lions in Australia between 2016 and 2017. "[The United States of America was] an enriching experience. We had a very demanding coach, who demanded a brutal intensity in training that we are not used to in Spain. I would finish the games and training sessions physically and mentally very tired. I went [to Australia] with a different mentality, with the intention of enjoying the city, the country, the people. In addition we had a great team there and also won the Australian league." (esportiumaresme.cat, 03 Dec 2019)

Social Media

Legend

:: Silver Medal
:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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