Paris 2024 Olympics: Fists That Kill Clichés and Open Doors | Paris 2024 Olympics

Laura Fuertes points to her nose and runs her finger along its smooth surface. He looks the reporter in the eye and asks, “Did you notice anything, that it was broken by a blow?” “Do I have a deviated septum?”

— And if this were noticed, would it bother you?

“Not at all. I broke my nose in the first match of the European Games. I won it with a broken nose. And I also won the next tournament, which allowed me to participate in the Olympic Games. And in the end I won, always with my nose…

Laura Fuertes points to her nose and runs her finger along its smooth surface. He looks the reporter in the eye and asks, “Did you notice anything, that it was broken by a blow?” “Do I have a deviated septum?”

— And if this were noticed, would it bother you?

“Not at all. I broke my nose in the first match of the European Games. I won it with a broken nose. And I also won the next tournament, which allowed me to participate in the Olympic Games. And in the end I won, always with a broken nose, the bronze medal of the European Championship. So I don’t worry about anything. You can break it in any ordinary accident.

Laura Fuertes, a 23-year-old Asturian from Gijón, weighs exactly 50 kilos, not an ounce more, not an ounce less. With her fists, she breaks clichés and opens doors. She is the first Spanish boxer to qualify for the Games. She was also the first Spanish medalist, a bronze medalist at the 2023 World Championships. “I started swimming, but I always liked it, really, I always liked boxing, but, well, I spent a season doing karate and boxing at the same time, and since in karate I liked the fight, the kumite, where is there always a fight in boxing?” she says. “I liked the sport because boxing is a super complete sport, I think you release a lot of adrenaline, you work on a lot of things, so, well, I decided to do it.”

The boxer’s nose is more than a cliché, a literary device that becomes a weapon of aggression. “There are very sexist comments on the networks that devalue the sacrifice that women make, just like our colleagues. In person, I have only been told that since I am so beautiful, how can I dedicate myself to this, that they are going to destroy my nose, but I always ignore it… Both on social networks and in person. I am always very kind when it comes to comments. “I invite those people who say that to come to the gym or to a boxing night, to watch it and understand that their comments are wrong,” says Fuertes, who lives and works in the Blume residence and the High Performance Center of Madrid and takes boxing out of the legend of the slums and the mafia. “Boxing is completely different from what you might think from watching Rocky or reading a lot of crime novels. It is completely different. Thank God, it is changing. My colleagues and my colleagues are changing it. We are showing that this is a super sacrifice sport. You have to eat well, you have to train a lot, because the fight, three two-minute rounds, is very demanding both physically and mentally. This image of boxing is changing. And I am very, very happy.”

There are eternal images of boxing that the Asturian boxer does not renounce. He cannot do so. They are the essence of the ring. One of them is the image of boxers, outlined on the posters announcing the fights, standing, one fist forward, one leg back, crouched, ready to strike. This is how he wants to pose, historical, traditional, in one of the rings of the gymnasium installed in the basements of the Supreme Sports Council. In the corner, a stool and a giant funnel, connected by a tube to a bucket on the floor, for spitting out saliva and bad thoughts. “At school, I was not punished much, to be honest. I was not simply sent to the corner to think…”, he says. “And now I walk a lot. What helps you is to listen to your coach, so that he tells you what you need to do to improve, tells you how you are doing, tells you that you are doing well”.

In the gym, clothes are hung, balls are thrown, some ropes and T-shirts are drying on 12 lines. It is next to the Casa de Campo, but does not imitate Tony Leblanc, the outdated cliché of a boxer popular in Spain in the 70s, who repeats: “From the gym to the Casa de Campo, from the Casa de Campo to the gym.” … “I have heard this in my life … No, I am not going to do the bottom in the Casa de Campo, but in the gym I like to work with gloves with sparring partners and, above all, individual work with the pad. My trainer, Rafa Lozano, Balita, just watches me, corrects me, and I notice how strong the blow is coming. I notice my strength, my power. I like it very much.”

She is not Hilary Swank from Million Dollar Baby or Balita, the former Olympic boxer from Cordoba, she is a sentimental Clint Eastwood transformed by her, but Fuertes does not reject this image. “It is a film that tells the story of a girl entering a man’s world, how difficult it is for her to find a coach, how difficult it is for her to find opponents. I really like this film. It reflects very well the difficulties that women face … “, says the woman from Gijon, who is more of a stylist than a striker, “at 50 kilos there are no knockouts, we do not have enough strength … At 80, they do.” “They work a lot, and how heavy their hands are,” she explains: “Me, since I am quite tall for my weight, I am 1.63 meters, I keep my distance well, without getting into hand-to-hand combat,” a fan of Mireia Belmonte. and is fascinated by Muhammad Ali, the Rome 1960 Olympic champion and the boxer who broke the boundaries of boxing and penetrated society. “He flutters like a butterfly and stings like a wasp… he is an inimitable boxer.”

Laura Fuertes’ journey along the Seine begins on Sunday, July 28, at the Arena du Nord, where the first of six fights will take place leading up to the final, around midnight on Friday, August 9, and there will be more tears from San Lorenzo, in a place of exceptional importance for Spanish sporting mythology, as the ring will be installed on the red clay of the Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland Garros. “Of course, I would like to be an Olympic champion. “I train for it,” he says. “Boxing could be more visible, but I try from here, based on my achievements, both the world medal and being the first to qualify, I am fighting to give a voice to this sport, to give a voice to women. In this sport, many still consider it a man’s sport. Maybe give an opinion and give an opportunity to see girls who want to start and can have references with which they can identify.

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