Archer Overcomes Injury to Qualify for Paris 2024

Rising from the ashes like the Phoenix is ​​a feat that few can boast of, and in that select group is the Mexican archer Ana Paula Vázquez Flores, who arrives at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after overcoming a considerable injury and shoulder surgery that kept her away from high performance for almost a year.

“Ana Paula Vázquez is a very eager person in many things, she has many dreams and some of them are all the upcoming Olympic Games. It is not only about winning, but about leaving a positive mark on sports, women and the population in general, because it is the only thing we leave in this world. I like to feel that I am doing something to achieve it and not just waiting for it to arrive,” she said.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympian got into sports from her early years, trying out different specialties until she found a special liking for American football; however, when playing in a mixed category, there came a point where the men's physique was a difficult aspect to deal with, so flag football was an alternative, although with little success.

“I started in sports since I can remember. My mother chose to put us in various activities because it seemed important to her, and she didn't like a person to be at home doing nothing. I was in various sports, but the one I stood out the most in was American football until I was physically hurt. My mother forced me into archery, and I was in compound for two years.

“In 2014 my coach asked me to change to recurve archery, even though I was doing very well and winning many medals. She told me that I could make it to the Olympic Games, and being told this by such an significant person gave me the idea that I could achieve it and I believed her. In mid-2015 I was super sure that I was training for Rio 2016; I was shortlisted and since then, I have not wanted to think differently," she revealed.

Shoulder injury, surgery and recovery, the toughest rivals to beat

The Coahuila native began to reap international achievements since 2017 in all possible events (individual, teams and mixed teams), she even became a two-time continental champion for her victories in Monterrey 2021 and Santiago 2022. She went to her first Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, where she obtained sixth place in teams alongside the historic Aída Román and Alejandra Valencia.

Everything was going well after her performance at the grand event, as she also won medals in World Cup Series, and the start of the cycle towards Paris 2024 looked uneventful. Despite the good run, at the end of 2022 a shoulder injury appeared which she knew how to deal with in her first stage, but which worsened over time and the competitions in which she participated while still injured, until she had to undergo surgery.

“It was not easy mentally or physically, because it was constant pain all the time. I didn't even want to get out of bed, I was very lazy, I cried every day and tried to distract myself; I didn't want to think about archery or step on a field. I had surgery with the plan of going to Paris 2024, and until September 2023 I was able to take up a bow from scratch, without weight.

“I must thank the entire group of people who were part of that process. Having people who believe in you more than you do helps you a lot, and I was fortunate to have them. Many people thought I wasn't going to make it and I thought the same until I dealt with the circle that surrounded me; they didn't let me go; that's when I started to believe a little more," he said.

Renewed arrows and qualification for Paris 2024

The objective of the international multi-medalist was clear: to triumph in the 2024 National Selection that would define the names of the three places won in the Berlin 2023 World Championship. The challenge was not easy, since to secure her place in the Olympic representative she had to claim her place in the elite of Mexican archery, which she achieved by taking third place, behind Alejandra Valencia and Ángela Ruiz.

“In this year's selection, each arrow tasted like glory to me, because I thought I would never go back to something like that, and I was having an incredible time. I thought that I was not going to allow myself to do the sport that I love so much in a bad way, I better do it with pleasure because maybe from one day to the next you can't anymore. That was what helped me a lot because I had fun.

“If I had the recently operated Ana Paula in front of me, I would tell her that I admire her and that she is going to live through very difficult things, which will not be as pleasant as I thought they were going to be; live it as you have to live it. Thank you for having decided to have the operation, maybe you still don't know why, but those decisions made me the person I am today, which I like, and I am happy with,” she reflected.

After overcoming the injury, operation and recovery, which have undoubtedly been some of the toughest rivals she has had to face, as well as securing her second participation in the Olympic Games, the 23-year-old archer is ready to make history in “The City of Light.”

“I want to be seen happy and determined in Paris 2024, because it is a feeling that I have known all my life, it has always helped me and it is positive. It is joy, desire, passion and fun; entering a very beautiful state. I will be doing something that I may not have been able to do,” she concluded.