Ágatha Bednarczuk Rippel, silver medalist at Rio-2016 and world champion in Beach Volleyball, has secured her place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in advance.
Throughout her career, Ágatha has won several titles, including in 2015, an undefeated player at the Beach Volleyball World Championship in The Hague, Netherlands, where she also won the MVP (best player) title of the tournament. In the same year, she also reached the highest place on the podium in the World Circuit.
In 2016, he experienced the highest point of his entire career, winning the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Currently, alongside Duda and under the command of coach Marco Char, the athlete is part of the Brazilian team that has reached the podium the most in the 2017 World Circuit.
In 2018, the duo won several titles, securing gold in the Itapema stage, silver in Moscow and bronze in Warsaw on the World Tour, results that gave the team the title of the season. In addition, they were champions of the World Tour Finals.
In this interview, Ágatha, who is on vacation with her family in Paranaguá, spoke exclusively with Folha do Litoral News, highlighting the Closing Festival of the Activities of the beach volleyball project she is developing in Paranaguá, of which she is the godmother, and which will be held on Sunday, the 1st, the successful partnership with Duda Lisboa and what Brazilians can expect from the duo in Tokyo. Check it out:
Folha do Litoral News: The Closing Festival of the project of which you are the godmother will take place on Sunday. Tell us what this great party will be like.
Agatha: We traditionally hold this party at the end of the year. It is a festival to close out the activities and close out the year. We chose this date, December 1st, more for my personal calendar than for the project. Although we are holding the party on Sunday, the project will continue with its activities until the end of December, stopping around Christmas. But since this was a date when I could be here in Paranaguá, and unfortunately this year due to commitments I haven't been to the city very often, I couldn't be close to the project, so I asked for it to be held on a date when I could be there, because, as always, I want to see everyone, I want to have fun, and for me, this contact with the students of the project and with the people here is very important. The project is not something I created and abandoned, on the contrary, even though I am far away, I talk to the people who work here every day and follow what is happening and being done, and I actually take part. And it will be a festival like everyone is used to, we open our doors to the entire population, not just our students. There will be many activities: beach volleyball and soccer, the charity tent that the functional athletes organize, and they contribute to helping the project. We have Sesc Paranaguá as a partner, bringing some toys, the kits that are given to the children and the afternoon snack, which is important, always aiming for a great celebration. It starts at 14 pm and goes until 18 pm, here at the project's Beach Sports Training Center. Come with your family, because it is a time for us to play together.
Folha do Litoral News: Tell us a little about the Ágatha and Duda team.
Agatha: This team was created from the beginning with the Olympic Games in mind. On the day we gave our first interview, on January 4, 2017, we said that the team's main reason for being in Tokyo was to be in Tokyo, and being in Tokyo creates a new goal. You can't talk about medals and podiums at the Olympics until you've qualified. So our first focus was qualifying. We knew we would go through a lot and play in many tournaments. So these three years have been a learning experience for our team. When you set a goal as high as this, it's inevitable that you won't change. And you change as a human being. When the goal is high, you'll go through difficult times, and they challenge you. Sometimes we have to be more aggressive, and other times we have to take a step back, and that's about everything, from the team's planning, the relationship between the team and the team's relationship with the coaching staff. It's a very challenging path, because there are many tournaments and we play an average of 20 tournaments per year, and more than half of those are international. There is also the challenge of spending a lot of time away from home, giving up family and personal life, traveling a lot. The life of an athlete is difficult and full of sacrifices, and this is what we have experienced during this period, but this team is winning, a stable team that is achieving results. Which is making us feel that everything is worth it.
Folha do Litoral News: What was it like to receive the news that the duo had actually qualified for the Olympics?
Agatha: Duda and I talked and agreed that we wouldn't add up the scores. We were told that the Olympic race would last until February 2020, and we said: let's play our volleyball and not do the math, because that will be bad for us, let's focus on what we need to do, which is play well, and we lived that up. Before playing the Rome stage, we talked to the coaching staff and asked them how our classification was, because we believed we were very close to qualifying, since we were in 1st place in the Brazilian Olympic ranking. There were only two spots, and we knew we were close to securing one of them. So we played knowing that if we got up to 9th place we would qualify, even if our opponents came in 1st place until February 2020, due to the sum of the scores. So when Rome ended in September, we knew we had qualified, but it's funny because until the news officially came out you don't celebrate. People came to hug me and congratulate me and I said, “Calm down, when it’s official, you can come talk to me again.” But the feeling of the announcement, which happened in October, is a feeling of great joy.
Folha do Litoral News: What is the planning and what are the expectations for Tokyo 2020?
Agatha: We're going on vacation this month. I'm here in Paraná and Duda will be staying in Sergipe with her family. We're not going to stop physical training, we're just going to stop training with the ball. High-performance athletes can't stop. When January starts, starting on the 6th, we'll have a week of testing in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Then we'll go to Saquarema and we'll stay there for a while training. There will be several competitions at the beginning of the year. In January, February and March, we'll have national competitions and an international one in Mexico. The focus will be on heavy training, focusing on the Olympic Games. After that, we have many competitions before the Olympics, which will take place in the middle of the year. Many people think that if we qualify, we'll only play in the Olympics, but that's not the case. We'll play in 7 or 8 international competitions and the four national competitions before Tokyo. The focus is on the Olympic Games, but before that, we have many important competitions that will give us confidence and support to do well in the Olympics.
Folha do Litoral News: We wish you success in this new journey and what message do you have for the people of Parnaíba and the Brazilian fans?
Agatha: It is truly incredible to be able to represent my city, my state and my country in the Olympics again. I remember when I qualified for the last Olympics, how happy it was for the city. I had the opportunity to do a beautiful report in Folha do Litoral News saying that I was the first athlete from the city to qualify for the Olympic Games, and now I have qualified twice. It is truly a great joy for me to be able to represent our city and the country. I want to experience this, but there is still a long way to go. I am enjoying every moment. I am already 36 years old, and this may be my last Olympics, since the next one will be in 2024, in Paris. I may be playing volleyball by then. But when I return, I am very happy to be able to participate in another Olympic Games in the coming months. I feel like enjoying every second. This Sunday, during the Festival, I will be bringing some news about myself to those who follow my career. I cannot tell you about it before Sunday. It will be a surprise and until then I will keep you curious, and whoever is at the festival will find out right away. I would like to take this opportunity to send my hugs and affection to the entire city and to say that I have been following on social media how much you support me and my team, and how much the people of Paranaguá feel represented by me as an athlete carrying the name of the city. When I am in Paranaguá, this affection comes warmly from people, and sometimes people I don't even know stop me to give me a kiss and an arm, and tell me that they are rooting for me. This affection is very motivating. I would like to thank you for this love and say that I will do my best, because I am a person who always tries to give my best every day. On and off the court, rest assured that I will be giving my best and continue to pass on this energy that drives us forward.
