Gymnast Filipa Martins leaves qualifications emotional and dreams of the final

This Sunday, Filipa Martins finished the artistic gymnastics qualification with great emotion and with the dream of reaching the final in Paris 2024, risking Yurchenko’s successful double pirouette on horseback.

“Right now I’m still a little bit excited. I think that today here we did something that we never dreamed of in our lives, in Portuguese gymnastics. I think we surpassed ourselves on all levels and I’m very proud of our work,” she emphasized, her voice embargoed.

Philippa Martins had a happy face as she walked through the mixed zone of the Bercy Arena, the artistic gymnastics arena for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I almost cried there, but I tried to hold it in, because it was hard to breathe then. But I am very proud of what we did here today. I think we can dream, maybe about the final, we have to wait until the end of the day. Of course, there were things we could have done a little better, we, athletes, always want more, but we are very happy with today’s competition, very much,” he concluded.

The 28-year-old Portuguese became the first gymnast from the third qualification division to take to the Bercy arena, receiving enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

Dressed in a sparkling green outfit, the historic Portuguese gymnast began the qualification on horseback, performing a jump that left her with a big smile and earned her a score of 14.133, as cries of “Bora Filipa” rang out from the stands.

“This jump, maybe I’ve been training it since 2014 or 2015, but it’s such a risky jump that we’re always afraid to put it in competition, so when I was 28, I put it in competition… there are no words, I think, for me and my coach. [José Ferreirinha] We were a little scared because it was a very difficult and very risky jump,” he admitted.

The jump, dubbed the “Yurchenko Double Pirouette,” brought a smile to the Acro Clube da Maia gymnast’s face and consists of “a round of flips over the table and a somersault with two pirouettes.”

“The fact that we managed to get through that first reception and that very difficult step was very good, very positive, and I think that ultimately gave us a little bit of strength for everything else,” he admitted after completing his qualifying division.

Always standing, Martins watched his “rivals” perform on horseback, where he outperformed Panamanian Hillary Heron and Colombian Luisa Blanco, but not North Korean An Chan Ok (14.183).

On the asymmetrical bars, his specialty, he spent time carefully cleaning the bars before performing a clean and confident routine with a score of 13.800, the best of the four.

“It was the best grade I got this year, but I felt I could have done better. […]“I think I did a little better on the tests and got a lower grade, so we were happy with the grade,” he analyzed.

In front of the beam, she practiced her balance and exercises, sometimes with her back to the apparatus, without stopping in one place for a minute, unlike the other gymnasts in her group, who sat quietly and watched the performances of others.

While waiting for the action – the solo of the Japanese gymnasts next to this “forced” one – he rubbed his hands again and again, did small jumps, breathed deeply, waiting for the exercise in which a small imbalance would occur, which led to a result of 12,600.

“In Rio de Janeiro, the beam was a kind of deja vu, because I also competed last and also waited a long time. A beam is always a beam, I could have made a few more connections there, but the main thing was not to fall,” he defended.

To the epic music, he performed his solo with a rating of 12.633, clearly happy as he melted into the arms of his coach, Jose Ferreirinha.

After a historic 17th place in the asymmetrical parallels at Tokyo 2020, the Portuguese gymnast is now hoping that her third Olympic participation will earn her a place in the final – with qualification still ongoing.

“Now it’s about enjoying it with the family that’s here, the amount of Portuguese that I saw in the stands that felt like home was very, very, very good. It’s about enjoying and watching other competitions. And that the Parish will be great because I’m very happy with the test that I’ve had today, it’s impossible to put into words and for me it was like the pinnacle,” she described.

Filipa Martins believes her historic leap could also open up horizons in Portugal, showing that it is possible to “not just do what we are used to”.

“We need to train a lot more, we need a lot more support and we don’t have it, so these processes take time and little by little I think Portugal is growing a lot in our sport and we still don’t have a lot of support. So this is a historic event not only because of what we did here, but because of all the lack of support, in quotes, that we had, and we managed to do it,” he concluded.