They know Ana Pérez Box like this, with her full name, by her mother: «Since I was a child, she had embroidered my name as ‘AP Box’ … and everyone already knew me like that. I don’t know, as Pérez is more common ». This is how you are about to get to the Tokyo Games this summer. Perhaps this is nothing more than an anecdote without too much importance. More relevant is the modality with which he can appear in the Olympic event in July. And there, again, her mother had a lot to do, who did not want her daughter to immerse herself in rhythmic gymnastics. “Over time she has told me and it is that she considered that it is a sport in which she suffers a lot … she did not know the atrocities she was going to do in judo!” Exclaims the Alicante woman.
“He did not let me join rhythmic gymnastics,” recalls Ana Pérez Box. Although he later clarifies that his mother used a more subtle tactic. «I was determined to go with a friend, but in the end she was embarrassed and I no longer wanted to start alone. She took advantage of that and that another girl she knew was going to start judo. He pushed me: ‘Come on, that’s how you meet people!’ ”He says. He tells it with a smile: “Look, it wasn’t such a bad decision, I’m still here.”
About to qualify for the Olympics. This Monday he will know if a passport to Tokyo that he already caresses is stamped. It is within the ranking positions (twelfth with 3,945 points) of its weight (-52 kilos), with a wide advantage over its Spanish rival (Estrella López), since only one representative per country can go. To stay out, in Budapest he would have to lose the first exchangers and his opponent, reach the final: “But this is sport, until the competition ends …”.
If all goes well, the athlete, who is part of the FER Project, will have taken another step towards the goal of that adventure that began when she was 6 years old. “I started at Míriam Blasco’s club and then I continued at the Escuela De Frutos”, she specifies: “It is true that gymnastics has been very demanding since I was a child and in judo at the children’s level you don’t suffer so much … but when you become professional it’s crazy. The pulse with the scale before each competition, a demanding physical preparation, the fact that the work of many years depends on an action in tenths of a second … “We are psychologically prepared for that, it is part of our sport,” he says. .
You will never know what it would have been like on the tapestry, but what you have clear is that the tatami is its natural habitat. «From the beginning I started to compete, that keeps you hooked and in the two years as a cadet I got a medal in the Spanish Championship. That ended up seducing me », comments Ana Pérez Box. Because she is one of those who does not want to lose even the marbles: “I am very competitive, participating does not suit me.”
Therefore, if everything goes well and your Olympic passport is confirmed at the World Cup, you do not feel that you have reached the end of a road. «I am going to Budapest for a medal, otherwise I would not compete. And to the Games, anyway, my dream is not to be there, but to get a medal, “he points out. Student of tourism (“I love traveling and I’m good at languages”) and fond of cooking (“I would very much like to participate in Masterchef!”), In the medium term she wants to continue in judo: “I’m going to try to get there also to Paris 2024 ».
For this reason, he trains in the specialized high-performance center of Benimaclet under the command of Sugoi Uriarte, who knows more than well the idiosyncrasies of the Games. “This year has been crazy, with six grand prix, European, World … there has never been so much competition in six months. I had a bump but now I come with good feelings, “he concludes.
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