- The high-performance athlete apologized to Venezuela for not being able to actively participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games | Main photo: Javier Biosca, Vogue
Venezuelan athlete Yulimar Rojas, 28 years old, posed for the magazine Vogue Mexicospecialized in fashion and trends, which was published on Tuesday, July 9 in both physical and digital versions.
The triple jump world champion talked regarding her experience as a high-performance athlete and her participation in the Olympics, the traumas of her childhood, her roots in Venezuela, and regarding sexual freedom. She also shared thoughts that frequently come to her mind, for example, what she thinks regarding when she jumps.
Rojas took advantage of the interview to apologize to Venezuela, because, although she will attend the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as flag bearer, she will not be able to compete due to an injury to her left heel.
“My heart is broken, I also want to apologize for not being able to represent you in Paris,” Rojas said in an interview for Vogue Mexico.
The Creole athlete confessed that one of her short-term goals was to beat her own record and reach 16 meters.
Yulimar Rojas took a few seconds to resume the interview and answered what she thinks regarding when she jumps: “I only think regarding flying.” She added that practicing jumping helps her release tension.
Recent records of Yulimar Rojas
The Venezuelan has broken the triple jump world record twice in her career: the first time, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when she achieved a mark of 15.67 metres and then at the 2022 Belgrade Indoor World Championships, where she reached 15.7 metres.
She also has four world titles in the triple jump category.
Sport, a tool to overcome their traumas
The Venezuelan athlete said that in her childhood she suffered from bullyingAccording to her story, her classmates made fun of her for how she looked: her height, her hair, her shoe size, her skin color and her way of speaking.
“That was something that haunted me throughout my adolescence. They called me heron, giraffe, black. They made fun of my skin color a lot. Since I had ‘bad’ hair (afro), I always wore it in a bun that got messy and they called me an ugly black woman,” Rojas revealed.
The Olympic medalist explained that the mockery towards her made her feel different, which “created a trauma” that she was able to overcome through sport.
“All that bullying “It affected me. It created a trauma that I was only able to overcome thanks to sport. The trauma I felt meant that I mightn’t walk in places where there were a lot of people so that they wouldn’t see me, so that I wouldn’t think that they were watching or messing with me. In the end, I thank those people for making me stronger. They turned me into a woman with character, a warrior, a fighter, capable of overcoming those comments that haunted her for years,” she said.
The roots for Venezuela and his family
The Venezuelan athlete thanked her mother, Yuletzy Ramírez, for her support and remembered her two parents: one who gave her life and Pedro Zapara, who encouraged her to get into sports and took her for the first time to the Simón Bolívar Sports Complex in Puerto La Cruz, the city where she grew up.
The athlete also mentioned the help of her sister, Yerilda Rojas, during her career as an athlete. Yerilda celebrated with banners on the streets of Spain when Rojas broke her record at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Regarding her roots in Venezuela, Yulimar Rojas said how difficult it was for her to make the decision to emigrate from the country. A choice that in 2015 took her to Guadalajara, Spain, where she currently trains and resides.
“I was avoiding the idea of leaving. I postponed the trip several times. It was a very difficult decision. But I found the courage and bet on the future. I always thought I had a mission, or I have a mission because that challenge is still standing. Inside me I keep Pozuelo, my family, my mother who has never left me, my childhood, my first steps, that little corner of Puerto la Cruz that I love so much and every time I go to Venezuela I try to reconnect with that,” he concluded.
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2024-07-10 02:06:35
