Mexican Taekwondo Athlete Ready for Olympic Debut

The national taekwondo team in the -49 kilo category, Daniela Paola Souza Naranjo, is ready to face her Olympic debut in the round of 16 against Ikram Dhahri of Tunisia, in the competitions that will take place this Wednesday at the Grand Palais, venue of the Paris 2024 Games.

“I started in taekwondo at the age of 10, it was quite a long road to this point, I am 24 years old, and I started from the age of five with physical activity, and it has been a lot of effort, a lot of dedication, during all these years. I entered from the cadet team, at 12 or 13 years old, then the youth team, until I reached the adult team,” recalled the taekwondo athlete.

Born in Jalisco, but representing Baja California, she spoke about what this sport represents for her.

“For me, taekwondo means improving myself day by day. It is a discipline that is not for everyone because it requires great character and for me, it is that, reinventing myself every day and finding a new, improved Daniela every time.”

World champion in Guadalajara 2022, she will go into action in Paris 2024, this Wednesday at 01:58 hours, Central Mexico time, in the second fight of the round of 16, to seek her pass to the quarterfinals, which will take place on the same day starting at 6:30 hours in Mexico.

“Paris for me means the moment of my life, I hope it is the best moment of my life so far, and I am very happy to be in Paris 2024. It is like a reward, after everything I have done and all the competitions I have been thinking about that goal, I think the situation I have now is very pleasant, but it does not end until I finish competing, and I look for my greatest result.”

Throughout her sports career, the Aztec taekwondo athlete, who trains under the supervision of Abel Mendoza, has had great triumphs, but has also overcome difficult times.

“The most special moment has been the Guadalajara 2022 World Championship that we won, it has been the most important thing in my sports career. Not achieving qualification for Tokyo 2020, I think it has been my grayest, darkest moment, which I had to overcome to be here now. I worked for this qualification since the cycle to Paris began, finishing Tokyo I started to work, I did not stop during the entire pandemic, now it was a lot of psychological and physical work and having achieved it, it was a great joy,” she concluded.