At just 17 years old, Angela Ruiz She is the youngest Mexican athlete in the Mexican delegation that will participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. However, her abilities have led her to be one of the best in the world and earn a place on the national archery team.
The young goalkeeper from Coahuila began her process at the age of 16, despite that, she was already competing with the best sagebrushes in the country, such as Alejandra Valencia, Aida Román and Ana Paula Vázquez.
“I had never seen them in person, I knew them from photos, from videos, from the cup finals in which they had been and at the moment of shooting against them and being at their level, competing at their level, it was like …wow, yes I really have the ability to go very far in this sport,” said Ruíz in an exclusive interview with RÉCORD.
By practicing and competing with the best, Angela realized that she was really not that far from their level, so she set out to surpass them and achieve great things in archery.
“Every time I’m improving, every time I’m raising the level and now, it was a very great way to prove it, I was testing myself with Olympic medalists and it was incredible. It filled me with a lot of motivation during the selection, because it was: ‘Yes, I’m staying close to them, but at some point I’m going to reach them and at some point I’m going to pass them and I’m going to do bigger things,'” he acknowledged.
Being the youngest in the selection, the most experienced quickly supported her, which helped the Coahuila to learn from them.
“In training it was like learning from them, from how they work on the psychological part, their physical preparation, the technical details, how they correct them and how long it took them to get to know each other as archers, that is, to know their entire technical process to knowing a microdetail that can be corrected, that surprised me a lot,” he highlighted.
After the Panamerican Gameswhere the women’s archery team won the silver medal, Angela decided that it was time to make several adjustments, from the technique to the arrows and bow. However, doubts began to grow, but thanks to the great work of her coach Miguel Barcenas, the young Artemisa managed to finish the qualifying with good scores, even above Olympic medalist Aida Román, who was left out of Paris 2024.
“Well, I also told myself: ‘What happens if you don’t make it?’, but the truth is I have the level and I showed it. So, when we got to the first selection, my coach told me: ‘Enjoy it, you know.’ how to do your process, you know how to shoot well, just stick to that and here I will be behind you’, and with that came the result of the first selective. By the second I did have more doubts and I did struggle a little more, but we also got it done.”
“After the selective, the competitions we have passed so far have not been easy, many things have happened, I have had technical doubts, I have felt insecure shooting, but like any high-performance athlete there are ups and downs, and we want to the biggest one is for games and that’s what I’m working for,” he said.
The young Mexican not only dreams of making history and winning the team medal, but also aims to win the individual medal.
“Yes, it’s okay to dream and I like to dream about that (individual) medal. I don’t see it as impossible and I know I have the ability to do it,” she confessed.
“Yes (I have visualized myself on the podium), sometimes. Now it really means leaving all external noise, concentrating on myself and enjoying the moment, enjoying the whole process because sometimes we forget to enjoy what sport is, due to pressure , for wanting results, but right now that is the most important thing, that I enjoy the process and that I arrive physically and mentally well in Paris,” he concluded.
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2024-06-28 14:16:43
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