Alejandra Valencia Aims for Olympic Triple Crown

Alejandra Valencia Trujillo is currently, at 29 years of age, one of the best archers in the world and one of the greatest exponents of Mexican sport due to her countless and commendable achievements; however, in the framework of her fourth Olympic Games, few could imagine that the international multi-medalist considers herself an ordinary person and that she came to the sport by mere chance.

“I am a person who likes to eat and sleep a lot, a little sentimental and sometimes angry; in short, I am a normal and ordinary person. What I think keeps me in the sport to date is that I am very competitive, curious and determined to achieve my goals.

“I came to archery out of curiosity and chance, because I did not know the sport itself. On one occasion, my sister had an accident, and we went to ask for help from people who were training at that time, that was when I discovered the sport. I liked it a lot, so I decided to stay and continue shooting; I also did swimming, but I chose archery,” said the Sonora native.

Her sporting history began at the age of eight, and six years later she began to represent Mexico, at which time she realized that she could have a great career in high performance if she took it seriously and gave her body and soul to the sport. In 2010 she entered the senior team and two years later she competed for the first time in the Olympic Games, where the competitions taught her a great lesson. “London 2012 helped me grow considerably and realize many things, since they were my first Olympic Games, where I arrived with many expectations. I struggled a lot in fact, I thought about not shooting again, I stopped doing it for a while, and then I realized that what I lacked was mental preparation. Since then, I trained a lot in that aspect to get to Rio 2016 in a different way.

“My own motivation is what makes me continue to achieve my goals, although at some point I did it thinking about someone or to look good, but that thought did not help me. The person I really have to please is myself, so from then on, I did it for me, and there are times when I judge myself very badly, but having control in my person helped me to move forward,” she explained.

Paris 2024: goal in three medals and feat of taking a complete team

The bronze winner in Tokyo 2020 and world runner-up in Berlin 2023 achieved in this last tournament the place for Paris 2024 by obtaining third place in teams with Aída Román and Ángela Ruiz; however, this success did not guarantee them their presence in the French capital because they had to undergo an internal selection with other Aztec archers to determine the Olympic arrows.

“We were happy with the qualification for Paris 2024, because we had achieved it, but we had to name the places, so I was not guaranteed to be in the Olympic Games, so I had to give my best to put my name on it. We would have liked to celebrate a little more, but we had another competition immediately,” she said.

For the world's greatest sporting event, the three-time champion in the Pan American Games has defined her objective: to get on the podium in the three events she competes in (individual, teams and mixed teams with Matías Grande).

Likewise, she shared her opinion regarding Mexico taking a full team for this edition, a feat that has only been achieved on two occasions (London 2012, where she was present, and Munich 1972).

“You will see me giving it my all arrow by arrow because, just like you, I also want to win and achieve my goals. My goal is to achieve three medals, and I would like to achieve it.

“It's great to know that we have a full team, as I have had to do before, and it's a lot of fun because you share everything with the team, the same people you train with, you go through good and bad things with, and with whom you will go to the most important competition for an athlete. Everything that happens in the village together is very exciting and gives you a great feeling of security,” she concluded.