SELLA RODRIGUEZ Eldric

Olympic qualifying results
In 2021 he was nominated by the International Olympic Committee [IOC] as a participant in the refugee team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (writeups24.com, 10 Jun 2021)

General
FROM VENEZUELA TO TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
He was part of the Venezuelan national boxing team for seven months at age 18, but he and several other of the newer members of the squad were dropped because of a lack of resources. In 2018 he began thinking about leaving the country, and the same year he was invited to compete at a tournament in Trinidad and Tobago. He decided to seek asylum there, and worked odd jobs to get by. The following year he was joined by his father and coach, Edward Sella. "There was not a day when I didn't think of going to the Olympics, when I didn't think about boxing. When I was mixing concrete, I was thinking how that would help me in my boxing career. When I was cutting grass, I was thinking how that will help me in my boxing career. When I was painting a house, or whatever I was doing, I always had in my mind what I wanted to do." (olympics.com, 06 Jun 2021; unhcr.org, 03 Jun 2021)

DISCIPLINE THROUGH BOXING
His main reason for taking up boxing was to learn self-defence so that he could protect himself from bullies in his neighbourhood, but he never had to use his skills for that purpose. "I will be honest with you, I did not decide to be a boxer for the love of sport or for my desire to compete. No, I started boxing because I wanted to learn to fight, and thus be able to defend myself from the boys who messed with me. That was my first motivation when I decided to enrol in the boxing gym that was a block from my house. All I thought about was learning to box to beat up those who messed with me. What I did not know is that in that gym I would learn much more than that. Despite having signed up for the boxing gym, I never did anything against the boys who annoyed me because I knew that if I wanted to, I could knock them all out right there. But thanks to what I learned when I started boxing, what these guys did stopped affecting me. And in time they realised this and walked away." (eldricsella.com, 11 May 2021)

JUGGLING
He practises juggling during training to improve his hand-eye coordination. "Everything you do is connected, from the simplest to the most difficult thing. Anything you do can help you to improve in something that interests you. Juggling helps me to have better hand-eye coordination, which helps improve my abilities as a boxer. It also helps to have something fun to do. It all depends on the intention with which you do it." (Instagram profile, 01 Jun 2021)