Manuel Estiarte

Guardiola wrote the foreword to Estiarte’s autobiography All My Siblings, saying this about the six-time Olympian: “I don’t know if angels exist and, if they do, if they help us. Much less if guardian angels exist. But, if they do exist, I believe you are one of them.” In reference to Estiarte’s influence on him as a manager, Guardiola has stated that “he helped me a lot in terms of the significance of understanding sport by seeing it from above.” Guardiola maintains that Estiarte is a crucial element to his managerial endeavors.

In 2009, Estiarte released his autobiography, entitled All My Siblings, in which he recounts his personal and professional life, including the death of his sister Rosa.

The two have been close friends and colleagues since, with Estiarte working with Guardiola for the entirety of his career in management, even assisting Guardiola in obtaining a lawyer when he was accused of doping in 2001.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he was the flagbearer during the opening ceremony, after which he announced his retirement from the sport.

During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Estiarte was chosen by his fellow athletes in the Olympic Village to represent them in the Commission of Active Athletes. He was also a member of the International Olympics Committee from 2000 to 2006. From July 2008 until June 2012, he was involved in external relations at FC Barcelona. He was also Pep Guardiola’s personal assistant at Bayern Munich from 2013 to 2016, and holds the same position with Guardiola at Manchester City FC. Estiarte’s official title at the Premier League club is Head of Player Support and Protocol.

He won the World Championship at Perth 1998 after finishing in second place at Perth 1991 and Rome 1994.

Four years later, he was part of the team that made up for this painful loss by winning gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, defeating Croatia 7-5 in the final. The 1996 tournament was the only one of his six Olympics when Estiarte was not the tournament's top scorer.

Manel Estiarte was awarded with the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit in 1993, and the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sports Merit in 1996, the highest distinction of sporting merit in Spain. Additionally, he was granted the most prestigious domestic/international sports award in Spain, the Prince of Asturias Sports Award in 2001.

With the national squad he reached the finals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics on home soil. Estiarte converted a penalty 42 seconds from full-time to put Spain ahead, but nine seconds later Italy equalised and went on to win 9-8 in extra time.

Estiarte and Pep Guardiola, current manager of Manchester City FC, have known each other since the early 1990s. The pair met on the final day of the 1991-1992 La Liga season, when Guardiola, still an FC Barcelona player at the time, won the title, and Estiarte, a passionate Barcelona supporter, went to congratulate him. The pair remained in contact throughout both of their careers as athletes, and in 2008, Guardiola asked Estiarte if he could accompany him to Barcelona to assist him as head coach.

Estiarte was one of three born to parents in Manresa, Spain, with a brother named Albert and a sister named Rosa. All three siblings were involved in high-profile athletics. Rosa Estiarte committed suicide in 1985 by jumping out of a window in their fourth-floor family home, which Manel witnessed. Manel is married and has two children, including a daughter named Rebecca.

He has participated in six Olympic Games, all consecutively (Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000). Estiarte is the second Spaniard to compete at six Olympic Games, after equestrian Luis Álvarez de Cervera. As of 2012, no other Spaniards have competed in six Olympics.

Estiarte played for the national team for 23 years (between 1977 and 2000) and captained the side for 20 years. He made 580 appearances, and scored 1,561 goals, 127 of which came in the Olympics.

His first international appearance was as a 15-year-old at the 1977 European Aquatics Championships in Jönköping, Sweden. At 19 years old, he made his Olympic debut at the 1980 Moscow Games, where he was the leading goalscorer - a feat he repeated at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and again at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, with 21, 34, and 26 goals, respectively.

Manel Estiarte Duocastella (born October 26, 1961 in Manresa) is a Spanish former water polo player born in Manresa, a municipality in Barcelona, Spain. He is currently a member of Pep Guardiola’s technical staff at Manchester City FC. Highly accomplished in his sport, Estiarte has been voted World’s Best Water Polo Player on seven consecutive occasions: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992.

Estiarte is the first water polo player to compete at six Olympic Games. (While there is a case for Welshman Paul Radmilovic to be recognized as such, one of his appearances was the 1906 Intercalated Games, which are not considered 'official'.)