Raffles, activities and even putting money out of your pocket. The story of Thais Fernandez It is the one that every highly competitive Peruvian athlete who does not dedicate himself to soccer lives. Despite being the national aerobic gymnastics champion since 2015, runner-up in the FIG Plovdiv World Cup 2019, Pan-American Champion 2022, and South American runner-up 2023, she has to find the resources that allow her to keep up with high competition. Her next destination is Europe, as long as she gets the necessary support.
“I think that for all Peruvian athletes it is frustrating, because you must not only prepare to improve yourself, beat your competitors and leave the name of the country high, but you also have to be thinking about how to cover the expenses to travel to the most important competitions. We always start with that disadvantage, but we still hold our flag high”Thais noted.
This 2023 has been a positive year for our champion. Almost at the last minute, she was able to travel to Tokyo to compete in the World Cup, where she was among the eight best, and last month she demonstrated her talent in the South American Championship in Uruguay, finishing runner-up in individual and group modalities, and champion in trio. Thanks to her participation, and that of the entire national team, Peru added 15 medals.
“To be able to attend the championships this year, together with the girls from the national team, we scheduled a raffle. We had to do it in June to be able to raise funds and travel to the South American in Uruguay. We are among the 3 countries with the most medals, we are a power in aerobic gymnastics in our region, but we live thinking about ways to raise funds to be present in the competitions of the year”, he points out.
Despite this, Thais does not give up or lose heart. The athlete has been preparing hard at the Jumping Jack club with her coach Natalia Balarezo, who seeks to develop and promote aerobic gymnastics at the national level. Our gymnast has her sights set on the 2024 World Cup in Italy, but in order to get ready she needs to travel to Europe in October this year to play the 2023 Plovdiv Open (Bulgaria) and the FIG Cup in Bucharest (Romania).
The Bulgarian Open is a competition where he has already competed for four years, which is attended by the European power countries of aerobic gymnastics. On the other hand, the World Cup in Romania means a showcase for the world to know the level of Peruvian gymnastics, where the best gymnasts in the world participate. “I would like to qualify for the finals, within the top 8 of the competition where more than 30 gymnasts usually participate”. reveals Thais, but to achieve that dream, he first needs to raise the money that will allow him to be in Europe for approximately 4 weeks.
“I graduated from university last year, but I have chosen to remain 100% focused on sport, because for me it is my passion. I work teaching academy classes at Jumping Jack because I love sharing my knowledge with future generations. Unfortunately, in Peru you cannot make a living from sports and I am always looking for companies that get involved and can support us. I consider the support important to be able to travel to the competitions of the year, since it is not very useful to train with everything and prepare ourselves in the best way if in the end we cannot travel due to lack of resources. I am sure that if a brand decides to bet on me, they will not regret it”he concludes.