It is July 24, the first day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after the opening ceremony. The expectation is maximum to know who will be our first athlete with a medal. And then, as if out of nowhere, a 17-year-old teenager bursts in, destroying everything, winning her three fights like a lightning bolt and placing herself in the fight for Olympic gold in taekwondo. Her defeat was the least of it (she had won an Olympic silver at the age of 17!), but for Adriana Cerezo, who had already set her sights on gold even without knowing if she was going to be in Tokyo, it was lighting a flame that has lasted three years.
The countdown to Paris begins.
The moment is approaching and we live it with great enthusiasm. In a month we will begin to go with the entire concentrated team to different places, a very nice part. And looking forward to them arriving. It is true that you also want to live the process, but you really want to be in the Villa, with the people, with the equipment, with the atmosphere, in the pavilion… It will come.
Speaking of the atmosphere, for you it will be a ‘first’ Games in that sense.
Yes, totally. I say it, they are my ‘first-second Games’, because I don’t have much knowledge of whether what I experienced in Tokyo is like that because that’s how the Games are, or because there was covid, or because there are many things that I haven’t experienced. It’s quite cool to know that I have experienced what surely many people will never be able to experience, because I don’t think the circumstances of the Games with covid will be repeated (I hope not), and now I am going to live another totally different experience, without expectations . I just want to enjoy it because I know the Olympics are always crazy.
In Tokyo 2020, the image in which you go out onto the mat with a smile from ear to ear, cheering yourself up and the few people who were in the stands, stuck with many people. In Paris it will be even more spectacular.
Man, I’m clear. In the end I smiled at the camera because I knew that my parents were behind me, and at the few people I was seeing in the stands. But obviously an Olympic Games is a dream, and I wanted to live them and be aware that I was living them. Now in Paris exactly the same, but with the added bonus that my parents will be there, my coach with me by my side, my uncles, my cousins, friends… everyone will be there and I will be able to see familiar faces. If he was already smiling in Tokyo, in Paris it will be from another world.
They were your first Games, you were 17 years old, you were not on many people’s radar… You arrived with several successes that year, but I don’t know if you expected to fight for Olympic gold.
Yes. We went with the idea of fighting for the gold. We were not considering going to ‘participate’ in some Games. It’s true that people from the outside don’t know you that much, because of your age, because you competed in other categories… but from the first moment of preparation, when we were considering going to the Games (not even when we qualified), and my coach, Jesus, he asked me if we would be prepared for anything, I was slow to answer. But after training that day I told her yes, I would be prepared for anything. And from then on the objective was very clear. Let’s go for everything. If we fall in the first round, it could happen. This is a game, everyone comes out to win. But let’s not be the ones who limit ourselves. Let’s go for it. And the same in Paris.
But about five months before, you didn’t even know if you were going to participate in the Games.
I don’t think I knew it even three months before (laughs). Of course, because until the Federation made the decision for him to go to the pre-Olympic, it was very much in question. Not only because of people of my weight, but because only two girls could go to the pre-Olympic of the four weights there are. And of course, I was very small. That the Federation trusted me was a step. I was lucky that I did well in the overall European Championship (I became European champion), and then I had to qualify. But we lived it all with a lot of patience and balance, and in the end that result came about.
That at such a young age you got that Olympic silver, for many of us it tasted like gold. But you, at that moment, hot after having lost that final, we saw you quite angry.
More than angry (which also), she was disappointed. I work every day for a dream, which is to become an Olympic champion. Return to an Olympic final. But in three years I didn’t know if I was going to sprain my ankle and not be able to, or if tomorrow I was going to stop liking taekwondo and want to dedicate myself to something else. It is something that is very difficult to relive. Obviously, I know that I am going to live it again, and I am working for it, to compete in all the Olympic finals that she can and more (laughs). But it was a unique opportunity, and to think that you’ve wasted it… Because if I had lost decisively, obviously it wouldn’t have felt good to me either, but you accept it another way, the other one was better, period. And the other one was better and won fairly, but seeing that you were so close, and that you threw it away…I thought I had lost the opportunity of a lifetime. It was a feeling of sadness, of disappointment. But that one is already very much over.
Has that fight crossed your mind many times in these three years?
I believe that every day of my life. Every time I have an interview and I think about it, I play the images until bedtime. If I don’t sleep tonight it’s because of you (laughs). No, quite the opposite. It’s the beautiful part of sport, experiencing all sides. I hope to be able to take the positive side, win and move everything forward. That time I had to go halfway, until the final, and lose the final. If everything were accomplished and easy, it wouldn’t make much sense, nor would it have much merit to be an Olympic champion. The beauty of all this is the difficulty it has, that everyone fights for it, it is the dream of many people and everyone believes they can achieve it.
It is often said that the Games are something ephemeral, that once they pass no one remembers the athletes, but it seems that has not been the case for you. You have stayed in the spotlight, you increased your impact on networks by more than 1000%, you appear in magazines, you have gotten sponsors… How is all that managed?
It is true that looking at it from a more objective prism and with perspective, it was crazy. We are not prepared for the exposure we have. Having an Olympic medal was simply a sporting thing. And then it goes further: you appear in the media, people know you more and are interested, there are sponsors… Until you get used to it, it is strange and the concept changes a little. But it is very necessary for all minority sports like taekwondo that these things happen. For us to evolve, increase the number of licenses… It was a bit chaotic until you started to put everything in its place. We have organized it well and everything it has given us has been positive.
I don’t know if you feel that now you have a little more responsibility for being the image of Spanish taekwondo, for giving visibility to this sport just as Carolina Marín has done with badminton, for example.
No, no, zero responsibility. The other way around. I would be very excited to be a third of what Carolina Marín is in badminton. In taekwondo there is a huge history of Olympic medals, of people with a brutal resume. In fact, I’m going with three other classmates to the Games, a girl and two boys, who all have a medal option. The responsibility is divided a little among all of us. But I wish everyone had those expectations of me, and believed that I was going to achieve it. Because my coaches, my family, my environment and I believe that it is possible and that we are going to do it. That people from outside see it, encourage it and feel excited about me is a dream and one of my goals as well.
What have you improved the most in these three years?
I think what I have gained the most is a little bit of experience. The fact of having experienced the Games when I was 17 years old already gives me an advantage when it comes to reaching these. Being able to experience great events, surround myself with high-level people every month in every championship. That has given me a little more maturity. We evolve from everything, and from every experience we have we always learn something, good or bad.
I have once read you say that you want to make history in sports. What would it be for you to make history?
More than the number of medals, I consider how you get them to make history. That when I finish the championship, I really believe that I deserved to have that medal for the way I did it, and that people consider that I deserve it. Let even the person who hates me the most in the world say: Olé! (laughs) It is true that there are very few Olympic champions, and the first thing is to be one and then we will see the ‘how’. But it’s something I dream of, that everyone truly believes that I have been better.
Put on a show, right? As in tennis, perhaps the champions who made people enjoy themselves are best remembered. Like now Carlos Alcaraz.
Indeed. Be a Carlos Alcaraz or a Roger Federer in tennis. Everyone sees something different in those sports figures. Results are super important to make a difference, but they always give something more.
Mental health is no longer a taboo topic. We see you in competition very confident in yourself, how is that built?
For me to be safe on the tapestry, I have to be sure that I have done everything in my power. The moment you know that you haven’t done something completely right, that you haven’t rested well, that you haven’t eaten well that week… That feeling of guilt is what makes you leave with even more distrust. And confidence gives you results, knowing that you have done everything that was on your side. There are many factors in a competition, and many depend on you, which you can control. And then other external ones that you can’t control. If something has to fail, let it be something that is not in your control. I have been dealing with the topic of meditation for many years, since 2018. It is good for me to stop, reconsider, be aware that it is still a sport, a game that I have decided to play, that I like. Why would I be suffering for this? You have to go out there and put into practice what I do every day of my life. That day will not be less.
The Olympic Games are, fortunately or unfortunately, the greatest showcase for Spanish women’s sport. What role do you expect from our athletes in Paris?
The boom is brutal. Obviously there are many things to improve, but the line that is being followed, both by the media and sponsors, is being super positive. I don’t think that the Games are the biggest showcase is a bad thing. It is also for all minority sports. We have to take advantage of it. We each have our sporting objectives and goals. The social impact will come accordingly due to the results and the work we are doing.
Do you get wet with a number of medals from Spain?
In Tokyo there were 17. I do trust that they can get 21 or 22 medals. In Tokyo there were several medal losses that were almost certain. The momentum we are having in minority sports in recent times will be reflected in the medal table. 22, I’m going to say, 22. We have to overcome Barcelona.
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