Judokas Lenia Ruvalcaba and Eduardo Ávila celebrate their gold medals in Rio de Janeiro

Mexican judokas Lenia Ruvalcaba and Eduardo Ávila, winners of gold in Rio de Janeiro, confirmed their happiness for achieving this accomplishment in the recent Paralympic Games and talked about the difficult path that must be traveled in adaptive sports.

"Many times we knocked on doors (to search for sponsors) but they didn't respond to our emails or return our calls," Ávila detailed in a press conference, while Lenia agreed with her teammate, saying that one of the phrases they heard the most was "Send us an email and we'll see what we can do."

Despite this, the judokas confirmed that many of the keys to their success were due to the fact that they also invested their own money, as not all financial support should come from institutions; in addition to the training they underwent and the support they received from Conade, with special reference to Samuel Pérez, responsible for adaptive sports in the organization that has been in charge of providing the greatest possible support to athletes.

About their medals, both said they felt very good, as it is the result of the joint work of their team.

"I enjoy this medal so much that I can finally rest," Ruvalcaba exclaimed excitedly, while her teammate said that "all the hard work was worth it. So many things went through my mind, the pain, because there were also injuries, the sacrifices were an investment."

Regarding the growing interest of the Mexican public in watching athletes compete, Ávila said that he feels very good because this way attention is turned to this sector of the population so that they can be helped to meet the needs for achieving an optimal life, citing the difficulty that a visually impaired person has in reading signs in public transportation as an example.

"It's an incredible joy (that I feel). The fact that a culture of Paralympic sports is finally developing, and not just sports but also disability. As athletes, we are also pushing a little harder for changes to happen."

Regarding the future, the athletes affirmed that preparation for Tokyo 2020 will begin in a year and a half but anything could happen in these years, so they cannot confirm their attendance but they will prepare to get there.