Podcast Podcast, Season 4, Episode 6: Gisela Pulido

Welcome to Season 4 of The Edge, a podcast by TAG Heuer. Our sixth guest this season is kite surfer Gisela Pulido, who became the sport’s youngest world champion at age ten in 2004. Since then, she has won multiple world titles and accolades. In this episode, we speak to Gisela about one of the most defining moments of her career: the European Championships in 2023. She also tells us about what it takes to become an elite athlete, performing under high pressure, overcoming injuries and preparing for a big year ahead. Presented by your host Naomi Schiff, this is The Edge, a podcast by TAG Heuer. 

Here are a few snippets to put you on the starting line and get the adrenaline pumping. But don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast so you can listen to the full, unfiltered episode later. The Edge is a series of conversations with extraordinary people operating at the edge of possibility. It’s about the thin line between taking part and tipping into victory; it’s about what gives us our edge and what we can do to go beyond it.

I think I started flying kites when I was six years old or something, because my dad always taught me every sport that he knew, like snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, biking, climbing. My dad was always really fun. He taught me everything he knew. But kitesurfing was forbidden. He was like: ”You’re not allowed to kite because it’s too dangerous.” 

I made my own kites and obviously they were not flying very well… So, my dad got me a kite and I think I stayed two years flying kites… without going on the water. And then finally he let me go on the water. And then I started, kite. I couldn’t get off my hands like I was cutting every day, every day, every day. I loved it. 

I’m from Barcelona but I moved to the south of Spain because of the sport. In Barcelona, there was no wind, so I couldn’t perform my sport. Additionally, school sessions were held both in the morning and in the afternoon. But in Tarifa, located in the south of Spain, school was only in the morning, allowing free time after 3 PM. So then I could have the whole afternoon to train. So I moved there with my dad and I have been living in three for, for the past 20 years already. 

When I was a kid, I didn’t realize what I was doing. I started doing sport at a very early age and I started competing in swimming as well. I was very linked to the competition. I’ve always been super competitive. When I started kiting, it felt natural for me to start competing as well. And, I convinced my dad to bring me to the European Championships and like the junior championships so I could participate. And for me, it was just so awesome to be in the competition because I always love sport, but I love sport because it’s a competition of competing against yourself and competing against other people. When I started kiting, I told my dad : “Okay, I want to be professional at this sport and compete.” At the end of the year, I realized I had a chance to be the world champion. And then I made it happen in 2004. 

It’s a wonderful sport, but the time has changed so much since I was doing kitesurfing, freestyle now freestyle, it’s not so popular anymore and there’s some other disciplines also wing foiling. Just appeared. Now we have windsurfing, kite surfing, wing foiling, we have the wave writing, we have the freestyle, we have the racing. You know, we have so many sports in one sport. I like it because it opens the range of people who practice it. Like it’s so accessible at the same time that new sports are coming. I’m just so happy that every time we get more and more people into the sport because at the end, it’s, kite surfing. It’s a really young sport.

I think the most important thing for someone who wants to be a professional athlete or kitesurfing is to really enjoy what he does. That’s what’s been giving me the “gasoline”, I would say for all those 30 years. You need to find passion, you need to find something you really love. It sounds very cliche, but it’s true.