Linda OCHOA: I dream of becoming world champion

After a rather positive result in the first stage of the World Cup in Shanghai, Linda OCHOA has high hopes for this year and wants to repeat the experience of reaching the finals, as she had in the 2010 edition where she finished sixth.

How is your season going? Are things going according to your expectations and hopes?
Yes, I trained a lot for the World Championships and the World Games. I can honestly say that today I am where I want to be and that things are going well.

In Shanghai you did not go past the 1/8 elimination round after losing by just a point against Katia D’AGOSTINO. How do you feel about this first stage of the World Cup?
It was a good experience after all, because usually my results are very good in qualifications and I encounter more problems in the elimination rounds. However, in Shanghai I scored very high in the head-to-head matches, so I’m pretty calm for the coming events. This is the fruit of my labour oriented towards obtaining high scores in the eliminations. I shot well, I got these scores, and despite my defeat, I keep feeling good.

Is the World Cup Final a goal of yours?
Clearly yes! So far I have only taken part in the Final of Edinburgh in 2010, but I promised myself to reach the most Finals possible. I missed the last two editions, but I also work to change that and hopefully get there again.

This year there are no Olympic Games, but there will be the World Games for the compound athletes. What does this event mean for a Mexican athlete?
This is the ultimate event to reach. In Mexico we are well supported, although it is true that the Olympic sports are those who benefit from the biggest support. My qualification for the World Games is a triumph, an opportunity that compensates for the fact that we are not part of the Olympic programme.

Could you describe a typical day of your life?
I train in the morning. In the afternoon I work as a coach for young athletes aged 16 to 19 years; one of my students, Valeria ZAMORA, is also present in Antalya. After my day of work, I also give private lessons to children aged 12. So I spend almost all my time on the shooting field.

What are your dreams, in the sport and outside of it?

I dream of becoming world champion and for my parents to see me win a world medal. In the future, maybe I will think about starting a family, but not right now (she laughs).

Given the results of the Mexican archery team at the London Olympics, would you say that archery is a fashionable sport in your country?
Yes, absolutely! Since we started getting great results like the 4th place of Juan René SERRANO and the 8th place of Mariana AVITIA in Beijing, archery has grown a lot in Mexico. With the two Olympic medals won by Mariana and Aida ROMAN in London, this growth has exploded. As a result of these successes, archery associations and clubs have been created, and they attract many more archers and children who engage in the practice of archery. There really is a rage for archery in Mexico and this can only generate an improvement in our level.

For World Archery and for all the people who work all year round to improve the mediatisation and the image of our sport, to have been promoted to the Group C of Olympic sports is a very important recognition. As an athlete, how do you feel about it?
Regardless of the fact that our discipline, compound archery, is not part of the Olympic programme, we the compound athletes are always attentive and involved in everything that happens around archery. Our sport is becoming increasingly popular through movies and cartoons where we see archers identified as superheroes. So, to have been promoted in the ranking of Olympic sports is something incredible, and let’s hope that this progress will continue year after year. We must not forget that a few years ago, people did not even know that archery was a sport, which did not make it easy for us to find motivation at the time to practice, but now that our sport became so popular, for me it is the best thing that could have happened.

Who are your idols or examples that you try to follow?
(She smiles) Of course they are Mexicans: the golfer Lorena OCHOA and the F1 driver Sergio PEREZ. They are both Mexican stars, both come from Guadalajara and represent examples for all athletes, especially Lorena, for the way she handles things and for what she has done to get where she is. We are not related, we just share the same last name.

Even though this is still far away, what do you plan to do after your career as an athlete? Do you prepare for something else?
I conducted studies to obtain a diploma in the field of sport to become a coach, and I’m about to start an MBA. In the future, I would like to have my own archery club. For now, with the help of my family, we are carrying out the steps to open an archery academy. My sister is also an archer and my brother-in-law participated in the Olympic Games.

World Archery Communication