When Karin Brandes participated in swimming in Los Angeles 1984 she was only 17 years old and could not imagine that 37 years later she would be celebrating a new classification, but this time from her daughter. Daniela macias will bring Peruvian badminton to Tokyo 2020, proving that Olympic sport is a family theme at home.
How was your rating given?
In badminton it is classified by ranking. It consists of traveling in a whole year to all possible championships, that is, every week I was in a different country competing. Your 10 best championships of all that year put you in the ranking. They were two crazy years, of great uncertainty, of not knowing what was going to happen, but in the end it was achieved.
Did the process create a lot of stress for you?
There doesn’t even have to be a pandemic for the classification process to cause us too much stress, frustration, a bit of anxiety as well. What happens is that, in a year of championships, there may be 3 in a week, so you have to put together your strategy, you can only sign up for one and evaluate what those who fought for the positions with you decided. And as the ranking changed every week, there were weeks that I was inside and others that I was outside. It was terrifying. If you add the pandemic to that, the trips and reservations that are made well in advance could not be made because they could be canceled.
How was the moment you found out about the classification?
Qualifying ended at the beginning of May and I was there at the time, I needed to beat a Guatemalan against whom I was playing in the Pan American to have a fixed quota and I managed to do it, but since there was no official announcement, I couldn’t say it. A few weeks ago I was having lunch with my family at my house, when a Mexican colleague wrote to me and told me to go to the page of the world federation, that’s where I see the list. My family was super happy because they knew that I was achieving my goal.
What was the reaction of your mother (Karin Brandes), who was also an Olympian?
I entered the national team at 9 years old and at that age no one has clear goals, but I was aware that I wanted to reach some Olympic Games And that part of the fact that I wanted to achieve the same as my mother (she participated in Los Angeles 1984 in swimming). It is something incredible, my mother was more than happy; in fact, we’ve done interviews together, which was weird but nice to share this with her. My parents were a guide for me.
Why badminton and not swimming?
When I started I was very little. The only memory I have is that the first time I picked up a racket and a pen I remember saying: how strange this sport is. I did gymnastics and swimming at the same time, but I decided to play badminton when I was invited to the Pan American Junior Championship in Mexico when I was 11 years old. I won that Pan American and I said: this is my sport.
Did the pandemic affect you?
Yes, we stood for a long time. Me Since 2007, when I joined the selection, the maximum vacation I can have in a year is 2 to 3 weeks, and in badminton you stop training for a week and it already feels weird, you don’t hit the pen, your racket runs out, etc .; imagine 3 months. In the end everything turned out for the best because I feel in very good condition, better than I expected.
Do you have a fixed goal for Tokyo 2020?
My goal is simply to leave the name of Peru as high as I can, I have committed myself and I am killing myself training. I am going to enjoy to the fullest that experience that very few people have the opportunity to live. So I focus on going with everything there, arriving in the best conditions, fighting it until the end and going as far as possible.
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