Bronze medalist Philippines’ Aira Villegas poses during a medals ceremony for the women’s 50 kg final boxing match at the Paris Olympics 2024, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

 

MANILA, Philippines–On her way to taking home a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics 2024, Aira Villegas had to deal with a plethora of injuries that could’ve kept her from making a mark in her debut.

Instead, Villegas pushed past the pain to deliver one of the Team Philippines’ three medals in the recently concluded Paris Games.

“This is a big competition, so my focus is on winning a medal,” said Villegas during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.

According to boxing executives, Villegas was bothered by a hurting knee, foot, and shoulder a month before the Paris Olympics and during the competition proper.

“She had a lot of injuries—shoulder tendinopathy, a mild ACL sprain, and compartment syndrome in the left foot,” said ABAP secretary-general Marcus Jarwin Manalo “Her first sparring session was when we were already in France at the Metz training camp. Then, her actual sparring took place in Germany, just two weeks before the Olympics. That was when she sparred against some of the opponents she would face in Paris,” Manalo said.

Team Philippines’ swimmer Aira Villegas (second from the right) during the Heroes parade for the Filipino athletes after the Paris Olympics. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Villegas, a longtime national team member, won her first two bouts against Yasmine Moutaqui (Morocco) and Roumaysa Boualam (Algeria) to set up a quarterfinal clash with home bet Wassila Lkhadiri.

On the eve of the fight for a semifinal berth and a sure bronze, her coach and former Olympian Reynaldo Galido had  a talk with Villegas about how winning the bout would change her life forever.

“I told her, this fight is tough because we’re up against a hometown favorite. But I said, don’t think about that, don’t think about the crowd. This fight could change your life. Think about your parents, your siblings,” Galido recalled of his conversation with his fighter.

Villegas beat the French bet to give boxing its first medal in Paris, before losing to a more experienced Buse Naz Cakuroglu of Turkey in the semifinals.

After getting the taste of the Olympic competition, the Filipino said there’s no stopping her now from achieving her ultimate goal.

“I know I’m a bronze medalist, but I still can’t feel it because my mind and heart are focused on the fact that I haven’t won the gold yet, so I still need to reach that goal,” she said, despite the uncertainty surrounding boxing’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“I’m still grateful for all the blessings, but I know I need to keep working hard to achieve my goal,” Villegas vowed.