Five years ago Tiana tried boxing for the first time. Now she’s off to the Olympics

1 week ago 6

Five years ago, astatine 25, Tiana Echegaray sat backmost successful her bureau successful Sydney and wondered what she was doing with her life. During the week, she was wholly unmotivated successful her occupation successful euphony licensing and spent her weekends astatine the pub drinking with friends, earlier starting the rhythm again.

Echegaray described herself arsenic a “chubby kid” astatine school, who hated moving and had ne'er done immoderate competitory athletics isolated from the unusual crippled of societal netball with friends. She decided to locomotion into a boxercise people astatine the gym aft enactment to summation fittingness and confidence. The determination changed her life.

Within six months of taking up boxing seriously, she had won her archetypal NSW rubric and past November, qualified for the Olympics. In conscionable implicit 2 months she volition vie astatine her archetypal Games successful Paris, aged 30.

“I conscionable knew what I was doing earlier successful beingness wasn’t making maine happy,” Echegaray said. “I was conscionable grooming due to the fact that it felt bully and I didn’t inquire immoderate questions astir it. I was conscionable similar ‘this is good, I’m conscionable going support doing it’ and I didn’t deliberation astir wherever it was going to pb maine oregon thing similar that.”

Echegaray precocious watched aged footage of herself astatine her archetypal classes, describing her attempts astatine punching arsenic “terrible.” She stayed successful boxing due to the fact that of the assemblage she yet recovered astatine No Quarter Boxing Gym successful Alexandria wherever she inactive trains nether her manager Anton Shalom. She recovered friends from each locomotion of beingness astatine the gym who supported her and encouraged her to effort her archetypal amateur combat arsenic she made accelerated advancement done dedication.

“When I had my archetypal combat (in 2021), it was benignant of similar 1 of those weird adrenaline hits, it’s similar erstwhile you spell connected similar a scary thrust and you’re like, ‘oh, let’s bash it again’,” Echegaray said. “It was conscionable similar that and yeah, I was 1000 per cent scared.

Tiana Echegaray took up boxing during Covid to support fit. She volition present beryllium competing astatine the 2024 Paris Olympics for Australia.

“I couldn’t trust connected anyone else, it wasn’t similar a squad athletics and there’s a weird equilibrium of being controlled successful a truly terrifying concern and past winning. I was like, oh, this is good, this is good.”

Echegaray won her archetypal Australian rubric successful 2022, pursuing up with different a twelvemonth later, having small thought of the value of being the champion boxer successful the state astatine her value class. The Olympics were ne'er connected her skyline until she attended a nationalist squad campy successful January 2023 wherever the imaginable of booking an Olympic spot successful Paris was archetypal discussed with her.

“We fundamentally had a gathering astir what the pathway was going to look similar if you wanted to spell to the Olympics and I was similar ‘how americium I adjacent successful this speech close now? What bash you mean?’. I ne'er thought astir the Olympics, I was watching them successful lockdown,” Echegaray said.

“It was beauteous brainsick due to the fact that I was like, ‘oh shit, this is wherever it’s starring me’. I did not spot it all.”

Echegaray has sacrificed a batch to marque the Olympics. She trained full-time and relied connected sponsorship from section businesses, friends and household to assistance enactment her question and grooming costs portion competing. She has besides battled injuries, including scratched corneas connected her eyes from punches that near her incapable to prevarication down without feeling similar she was blinking dilatory done a sackful of soil and grit.

In November, Echegaray – who is of Cook Islands practice – made the Olympics aft winning golden successful the Pacific Games, winning a unanimous points determination implicit Tonga’s Hainite Kayla Tuitupou successful the women’s 54kg division.

“It was astir apt immoderate of the biggest alleviation I’ve ever felt successful my life, honestly, conscionable due to the fact that I’d worked truthful hard for everything up to that moment, that full year,” Echegaray said.

“I’ve conscionable been done truthful overmuch and successful presumption of ups and downs successful the sport, similar winning and losing, and immoderate days you consciousness similar connected apical of the satellite the adjacent day, you conscionable consciousness similar shit, you’re conscionable getting bashed, it’s specified a rollercoaster to effort and manage. I conscionable felt truthful incredibly blessed and conscionable had relief, similar I did what I said I was going to do”

Echegaray past period flew to Colorado Springs successful the United States to bid and vie with her 11 teammates – including 5 different women, Australia’s biggest Olympic pistillate boxing contingent to date. She knows that she is warring for thing bigger than idiosyncratic glory.

Tiana Echegaray grooming astatine No Quarter Gym successful Alexandria.

“It becomes bigger than yourself due to the fact that you commencement impacting the radical astir you and I didn’t adjacent deliberation that that would beryllium the lawsuit due to the fact that initially I was conscionable moving connected myself to marque myself consciousness better,” Echegaray said.

“Now I commencement to spot the interaction connected the radical astir maine and past it’s gotten to the constituent wherever present it’s not adjacent astir me, it feels similar I conscionable privation to marque everyone other arrogant and peculiarly my family, my friends, my coach. We’ve each worked truthful hard to beryllium wherever we are.

“It’s conscionable similar everyone’s riding the question with maine and I’m trying to get connected the podium, not conscionable for me, but for everyone down me.”

Echegaray is afloat focused connected her Olympic dream, but is resolute that this volition beryllium her archetypal and past clip competing successful the Games. She wants to enactment progressive successful boxing, not arsenic a nonrecreational fighter, but alternatively moving successful the assemblage that initially attracted her to the sport.

“I person this tiny small model to effort and bash arsenic overmuch arsenic I tin and I’m truly conscionable afloat committed to it and I’m like, ‘this is it, I’m not going to spell to the Olympics again’,” Echegaray said.

“I’m truthful gladsome I made that prime (to commit). I’d beryllium truthful unhappy to inactive beryllium sitting connected my arse each time and typing distant connected a computer.

“It’s benignant of scary reasoning astir what I’m going to bash aft but it’s besides not; I consciousness similar I’m inactive going to beryllium progressive successful the sport. I’m inactive going to bash coaching and there’s truthful overmuch you tin bash connected the assemblage level. It truly impacts people’s lives.”

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