Accuracy is the key to success in high-performance sports. But in archery this quality is even more valuable. A centimeter away can make the difference between success and failure. Alejandra Valencia, who is in her third Olympic Games, knows this very well. In recent years it has become the face of the mexican archery. After staying very close to the podium in River, you are presented with the definitive opportunity to win a gold medal and to reaffirm Mexico among the powers of the discipline. In all competitions he has made his talent clear. The fair magna is, however, your outstanding debt.
Alejandra’s love affair with the bow was born by chance. His sister, who competed in cycling, had suffered an accident and Alejandra went to the room where archery was practiced to ask for help. At that moment, the magnetism did its job. Her sports teacher noticed that gesture and invited her to join the archery team. From that moment, there was no going back. The bow had been integrated into his destiny and he would never let go.
“To archery I do not consider it as a sport, but as part of me. Because even if I want to, I can’t stop doing it, I’ve tried to find out what it feels like to not train, but it feels very ugly, “he mentioned in an interview for the University of Sonora, his alma mater. And it is that Alejandra has managed to combine sport with her studies, well studied a degree in Graphic Design.
His debut in major competitions made it clear that his talent was innate. He obtained two golds in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara in 2011, one individual and one in pairs next to Aída Roman. In London, his first Olympic experience, he was far from the fight for medals, but their participation kept all the Mexicans who discovered thanks to her and her companions how exciting archery can be. In Rio 2016 Alejandra was very close to the medal again. In the direct duel for the bronze, the Sonoran fell to the Korean Ki Bo Bae. Previously, she had lost in the semifinals with the German Lisa Ulruch. Despite the defeat, these games confirmed that Alejandra was among the best competitors in the world.
For the Central American Games of 2018, in Barraquilla, Valencia signed a perfect performance. He got three gold medals: individual, team and mixed team. A year later, in the Pan American Games in Lima, made it clear that his good time had no limits. She was made of three medals, one of each color, and was well on her way as a firm candidate to fight for a medal in the Asian tournament. In 2018, he ended the year in third place in the world ranking. Since 2019 he qualified for Tokyo 2020 individually and in 2021 he signed his team attendance together with Aída Román and Ana Paula Vázquez.
Alejandra meets the triumph in first person. Whenever the bow has been hung, destiny has led her to success. But he also knows that, to go down in history in an incontestable way, success in the Olympic Games is a prerequisite. For better and for worse, it’s all about Tokyo. He has already achieved a bronze medal with Lewis Grandpa Alvarez. There, in Tokyo, each and every hour of competition and training is synthesized. All the medals that she has achieved guarantee her a select place in the Mexican archery. But one more medal in the Olympic Games would take him to a level that no Mexican in this discipline has achieved before. Alejandra Valencia, in Tokyo, could be the first and the only one.
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