5 June 2011 - Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA): "I’m not going to start whining"

Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA): "I’m not going to start whining" Lausanne – 5 June 2011   The winner of the World Cup Final 2007 Jorge JIMENEZ had to borrow money in order to travel to the stage 1 of the 2011 World Cup in Porec (Croatia). Thanks to his second place in Porec the archer from El Salvador is now no. 2 in the World Ranking. Jorge will compete at the World Cup stage 2 next week in Antalya (Turkey).  
Jorge JIMENEZ is totally dedicated to the sport. He doesn’t lose his motivation despite the series of difficulties he has to overcome in order to compete in the World Cup and other major competitions. Jorge JIMENEZ had to borrow money in order to start well the year 2011 and be able to travel to Porec for the first big meet of the year. Thanks to this participation where he placed second, he is now ranked no. 2 in the world.
  What is your goal for the Antalya World Cup? The silver medal and the 21 points that I won in Porec are a big motivation. I hope to take revenge against Roger WILLET Jr who defeated me in the final. My goal for Antalya is to play a good role and make sure that I have made half the way towards qualification to the 2011 World Cup Final.
You are now no. 2 in FITA’s World Ranking. What does it mean to you? Frankly speaking, I am very proud and very happy for El Salvador, for the joy it gives to my people. It breaks my heart when I stand on the podium and see another flag higher than El Salvador’s. It requires a lot of work and effort.
How do you manage to stay among the world’s top ten archer, considering the number of difficulties you have to overcome in order to be an international archer? It is the combination of several factors: the athlete’s hard work, the staff, the institutional support from INDES (El Salvador National Institute of Sports) and COES (El Salvador Olympic Committee) and from private companies. It is the result of years of work and it hasn’t been easy to get to this level. My teammates and I must be credited for entering the circle of the world’s top archers. We thank INDES and COES for their support and reach out to private companies in El Salvador to support local sports.   
What about your team that didn’t compete in Porec and as a consequence dropped from no. 2 to no. 6 in the World Ranking? As a Salvadorian and archer, I hope that an opportunity will be given to Rigoberto (HERNANDEZ) to travel to Turkey with us (Roberto HERNANDEZ and myself) and recover our 2nd place in FITA’s World Ranking.
 
Is compound archery the sport that brought the greatest international success to El Salvador? I don’t like to say it. I will just say that as far as results are concerned, we are among the best in the world. Beyond that, what counts is to enhance and put in the spotlight the work of all the team members of a sport and the victories achieved for the country.
Everything would be easier if you could train under the same conditions as most of your opponents, without losing time and energy with administrative issues. Of course everything would be much easier and different. I could dedicate myself fulltime to archery. It is clear that the majority of the archers who shoot in the Grands Prix and World Cup have everything served on a silver plate. We too deserve it, but what can we do? I’m not going to start whining and get depressed.   
Source : La Prensa Grafica
Edited and translated by World Archery Communication