Prisca Awiti, a Mexican judoka, starred in one of the most memorable moments within the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games held in San Salvador, after obtaining the gold medal by defeating the Cuban Maylin del Toro in the Final at the Coliseo de la El Salvador University. However, what most of the public does not know is that she, born in London, was on the verge of retiring before deciding to represent Mexico.
Prisca Awiti’s connection to Mexico
Prisca Guadalupe Awiti was born in London in 1996 and although she is European by birth, she is a descendant of a Kenyan father and a Mexican mother, born in León, Guanajuato. With only a few months of life, the judoka had already made her first trip to Mexico, however, she was not aware that her bond with her mother’s country would strengthen strongly in the years to come.
Interestingly, Prisca began practicing gymnastics as her first sport, however, after a discussion with her brother (who switched from practicing gymnastics to judo) about which discipline was more difficult, the youngest of the Awiti decided to try her hand at the Japanese martial art. and ended up falling in love with it.
Awiti managed to combine judo with gymnastics until she was informed that after the age of 12 she would be too tall to compete at the highest level, this was determined after carrying out some physical tests. So she decided that judo would become her priority.
From thinking about retirement to the Olympic Games
However, there was a dark period in Prisca’s career while she represented England where she even thought about retiring from judo, however, in 2017 she made a decision that would change her life forever: defend the colors of Mexico. Awiti revealed in an interview for Judo Inside how this radical change was.
“I was about to quit judo. I was out for six months with an injury and had previously suffered a head injury, which kept me out for another eight months. It wasn’t going well, I wasn’t at the national center where I was supposed to be. My coach asked me if I had a Mexican passport and to look at that possibility, so I wrote to the Mexico coach and in about three months we made the change. I already had the passport from when I was little, so we started the process in July and by October I already competed for Mexico”.
Despite the fact that originally her strategy was to gain experience and later seek to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the reality is that Prisca’s outstanding performances allowed her to fulfill her dream four years earlier. Awiti ended up being the only Mexican representative in judo during Tokyo 2020.
Defending the colors of Mexico
As if that were not enough, the judoka was about to win the bronze medal during the 2023 Judo World Cup, however, she lost the last match against the Dutch Joanne van Lieshout, junior champion for the last two years. Although this would have been the first medal for Mexico in the competition, her presentation was historic as she signed the best Mexican performance of the championship.
Added to this, Awiti defeated the world champion of the -63 kg category in 2022, the Japanese Megumi Horikawa, and the Canadian runner-up Catherine Beachum-Pinard during the First Round of the Repechage in the Round of 16.
Last March, Prisca won the silver medal at the Tashkent Grand Slam, the first medal for a Mexican judoka in the competition since the gold won by Vanessa Zambotti in Rio de Janeiro 2012. She also won the silver medal at the category -63 kg of the Pan American Championship in Guadalajara 2021.
It should be noted that in judo direct tickets to the Olympic Games are not distributed, so the classification is achieved by ranking, taking into account that the World Championship is the competition that awards the most points. Therefore, the added silver medal in the Tashkent Grand Slam and her historic performance in the World Cup joust illuminate Prisca Awiti’s path towards Paris 2024.
2023-06-27 12:47:39
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