These are times of change for Iñaki Urdangarin.
The 54-year-old former handball player for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team obtained parole on March 2, which allows him to settle permanently in Vitoria.
That does not mean that he has finished his sentence, of 5 years and 10 months, because of his involvement in the
Nóos case
, something that will happen in April 2024;
If Urdangarin fails to comply with the conditions imposed for this regime, he would have to go back to jail.
This is not the only change for him.
In January he was photographed holding the hand of a woman who was not the Infanta Cristina, so he and the king's daughter decided to issue a joint statement a few days later where they explained that they had decided "by mutual agreement, to interrupt their marriage relationship."
With all these wicks, and already as a practically free man, the former athlete decided to grant an interview in
El Partidazo
of the COPE chain.
Sitting at the microphones next to Juanma Castaño, the former Duke of Palma returned for the first time in years to chat with a communicator publicly.
In an eminently sports program, sport was therefore the focus of the interview.
Urdangarin spoke about his career, but also about the one that his son Pablo, also a handball player and also a Barça player, is starting.
“I felt very distant emotions, they reappear, you meet a son who is in the same situation as you at that time.
It is very exciting, I am very proud of what Pablo is doing”, he explained, saying that it had not been easy for the young man to train because they had lived in countries where handball was practically non-existent, and that he had put a lot of effort into it.
More information
Iñaki Urdangarin and his new life
“I am very proud of what he is achieving, regardless of where he is going to go,” he said about the 21-year-old, who highlighted his calm character.
"He is an educated person, he has received a reasonable education, his character also helps him cope with moments of stress comfortably," he said.
Regarding his own professional future, the former Duke assured that he wanted to "look forward".
“In this sense, returning to sport and management would be one of my goals”, he acknowledged.
“I have always found myself very well in the world of sports.
Handball has been my second family.
If it is not in sport as I have also been linked to the company, management of the company”.
On the 5th, Iñaki Urdangarin went to the Palau Blaugrana, in Barcelona, for the gala that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first handball match at the Palau Blaugrana, on October 23, 1971, and there he met up with his teammates and posed with them and with his son Pablo.
Iñaki Urdangarín speaks with his son Pablo after the Asobal League match between Barça and Fraikin Granollers, which commemorated 50 years since the first handball match on that stage, on March 5, 2022. Quique García (EFE)
The former Duke of Palma spoke briefly about his personal life, always leaving out of the conversation his sentimental situation, the Infanta Cristina and his partner Ainhoa Armentia, with whom he was photographed walking in January.
He did comment, for example, that for a time he felt that he was experiencing a certain persecution by the media.
“I did have a major media lynching.
Regaining the balance of what was said is very difficult, ”he acknowledges.
In addition, he said that during his time in the Brieva prison he clung to reading and sports, because thanks to the fact that there were "some machines to do cardio and some weights and mats" he did a couple of hours of daily exercise.
He also read 168 books, he explained.
Although King Felipe's brother-in-law still gave some insight into his time in prison, he also felt visibly uncomfortable when it came to investigating that issue, something he said had been "hard, very hard."
“Because of the conditions in which I entered, because of the years of trying to convince and because of the circumstances that I lived in solitude”, he affirmed, and made a request: “I would not like to uncover, in a sports program, matters of my personal past, I prefer look ahead.
It is a stage of my life that I have closed with this probation, I think with a very good behavior and in an extraordinarily fast time.
It is not a situation that I would like to remember nor do I think that people who have had experiences like mine want to remember it.
In fact, Castaño even commented that he felt "uncomfortable with issues that have nothing to do with sports."
"I don't want to give you a hard time," the communicator apologized.
“I'm not having a bad time,” said Urdangarin, “but I was coming to a sports program and I thought we were going to talk more about sports issues.
Nothing happens".
Castaño insisted again that, as he had told him “at the beginning”, he was going to treat him “with respect”, but he was not going to leave any issue unturned.
“You are a sports figure in this country and, in addition to that, there is a very special connotation.
And, as you can understand, I'm a journalist.
If I have a character as relevant as Iñaki Urdangarin, it is as if you are alone in front of the goalkeeper and you throw the ball into the stands instead of aiming for the goal”, he argued, to which Urdangarin stated:
"That's your point of view and I respect it."
To finish, Castaño wished him "good luck".
"I hope that you do very well and that life goes on the path of happiness, that if you say that you have complied and that you are calm, the law says that you have complied," he concluded.
