The look of the "liberation" of Ai Tsunoda, the great Spanish hope: "I was not proud of myself"

• Chronicle Niko Shera's tearful disappointment: farewell to one of the clearest golden options for Spain

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to, he even pointed at artistic gymnastics, but when his first fight came understood everything. That which his grandfather Makoto explained to him over the phone from Fukuoka, where part of his family still resides. What his father, Go, his teacher and coach of the British team taught him at the 2012 London Olympics, among other teams. That exemplified by his mother, Celine, champion of Spain a decade ago and active until not so long ago. The first time he grabbed an opponent, made her fly and threw her on the mat,

Born in Lleida, to a Japanese father and French mother, two years ago she was a cadet world champion, a week ago she was a junior world champion and now she is

. At 18, he has swept the lower categories, has already achieved absolute podiums and his rise is unstoppable. But his concern is not in his record. "I just want to be proud of myself," she says, and that is where her story lies.

"Before confinement I had already achieved some absolute results in Grand Prix [bronze in Tel Aviv at only 17 years old], but I was not proud of what I did. I was winning among the seniors, but I did not like my character. It is difficult to explain: I competed, I did not fight. I played with the limits a bit, for example, I could seek the disqualification of the opponent for a punch. My goal was to pass rounds, but I did not fill, I was missing something. During the confinement I could realize that and

", he acknowledges in conversation with EL MUNDO about the days of confinement due to the pandemic in which he took advantage of the dojo below his house, in Lleida, to continue preparing under the orders of His parents.

"I felt a release"

"I did not stop training, I trained more than ever, and now I feel strong, prepared, aware of what I am doing. Shaving my hair was a bit for that, I did it this March, to see everything clearer, so that nothing bothered me At first, when the competitions returned it was difficult for me to win again, but now I am happy, I see myself more honest. In fact,

, I felt a release from everything, "she points out with exaggerated maturity for your age.

"I do not know where I would be right now without that change," he accepts and, apparently, his review is constant. Despite his youth, despite his successes, there is no combat in which he does not analyze himself in all aspects and from which he does not ask for opinions. To his parents, the first, both former judokas, who met in a competition in France and settled in Lleida in 2002, the year of his birth, to create their own school. To his grandfather Makoto, a former practitioner, who receives videos of his fights in Japan, takes notes and

. And herself, who studies everything. His latest obsession: his posture, each time straighter, each time better.

"It seems that my family has been very demanding with me and that is why I crush myself, but it is not like that. My parents came to Spain for a few weeks work and they liked it because here they could teach judo at their own pace.

, quite the opposite ", explains who, after his change, points to an even greater evolution.

While studying languages ​​- she could not do the Selectivity because it coincided with a European - her idea is to return to focus on the absolute category and continue to climb in the ranking that already places her among the 30 best fighters in the world.

No medals since 2000

Already proud of herself, already liberated, Spanish judo awaits her with open arms. Since the six medals of Miriam Blasco, Almudena Muñoz, Ernesto Pérez, Isabel Fernández and Yolanda Soler between the Games of Barcelona 1992 and the Games of Sydney 2000, the team has not returned to a podium and

. The elimination in the Tokyo 2020 Games quarter-finals of Niko Shera, current world champion, exaggerated the feeling of living a curse on the tatami, that something is wrong. But Tsunoda doesn't mind that.

He experiences the pressure for his promotion as a privilege and does not pay attention to other stories.

I could compete for Japan -the dominating country of judo- or for France, in Spain there is another fighter of her category, María Bernabéu, in the world elite, but ... "At some point I have had the option of competing for France, but I choose to compete for Spain.

", she concludes and repeats herself" happily "all the way that she has traveled, in many aspects, since that first judo fight in the one who understood it all.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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