She use headphones and listen to music while exercising Erika Rocha de Sena that five years living in Cuenca with her boyfriend and coach Andres Chocho.

The strong Brazilian athlete is obviously already in possession of the entry standard to Rio de Janeiro. Monday on the track of Miraflores, where he trained Jefferson Perez, Erica gave an interview to Bolivar Sinchi of "El Mercurio", an independent newspaper in the morning in Ecuador.

The history

Erica was born in Recife in Pernambuco, in the Atlantic Ocean in northeastern Brazil. Her sporting career began to take shape in the school of Santa Apolonia. Has coached in many specialties of athletics, but did not emerge, she was among the last, until she asked his teacher to try the race walk: she was 13 years of age.

As time passed, she began to have difficulty in her training. The idea of Erica is that the society does not look kindly on those who practice race walk for lack of potential in other disciplines. Receive complaints during road training was so loud and with his colleagues she opted for training in the park, near her home, "with headphones, goggles, hat to feel nothing and train in peace".

She found in Cuenca the tranquility she was trying to develop in this sport, although she suffered early to adapt to 2.550m.

The arrival in Ecuador came when Erica, with a performance of 1h41m, was not even among the top three in Brazil, in the senior category. She was not considered for official competitions, but she began to grow.

After a year she was in Cuenca left for the National Championships in Brazil, the most important competition in his Country, where she won in 1h31m. Although she had the entry standard to participate in the Olympic Games in London could not participate because the Brazilian Confederation foresaw least more strong.

Today, his goal is to bring her personal best around 1h27m and to fight for an Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro. "I need to train more in Cuenca, enduring more altitude, but I feel stronger and I can still improve. I hope to fight a medal at the Olympics."

The Nationality

Among the plans of Erica, a degree in Physical Education, is to obtain the Ecuadorian nationality and become a race walking coach.

"People here know me and love race walking. For me it would be a pleasure to compete for Ecuador, but the only problem is that if I make this change I will have to wait two years, no race and that's why I do not take this decision yet, but it is not excluded."


 

 

 

 

During training in Miraflores, Cuenca

 

 

 

In Beijing  2015 (By Linthao Zhang - Getty Images)