BERNABEU Maria

Preferred techniques
Osoto-gari (IJF, 06 Jun 2021)

General
OLYMPIC DISAPPOINTMENT
She says she has learned from her disappointment at finishing fifth at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "It was a bittersweet day for me. I had so much expectation to get that medal. I couldn't win it and so I had a bad time. It was a huge blow which I had to overcome. I had to learn things, had to forgive myself and overcome many things in order to have new challenges. I thought that after the Games the world just ended, that if things went wrong then there was no other way out. That has helped me to learn that there are new challenges everywhere. Then you realise that it helps you to go forward, to improve. It gave me a new perspective and maturity." She says her bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, helped her rebound. "I was surprised by myself. I was flying during the competition day. That competition gave me the chance to come back, to feel myself again as if I recovered my identity. I lost that identity at the Rio Games, but that world championship was the turning point, 100%." (laligasports.es, 06 Sep 2017)

TRAINING IN JAPAN
She and coach Carlos Montero have regularly attended training camps in Japan since 2011, spending up to six weeks at the International Pacific University in Okayama. "It will be special for us to compete in the cradle of judo at the Olympic Games. Japan was a turning point for me. It has been a big resource to learn about judo and develop myself as a person. You see how world and Olympic champions have an enormous respect for the coaches, and not because they are their coaches, but because of their age. When you start to understand the depth of this sport, that it is not only stepping onto the tatami and fighting each other, you realise why judo is a life philosophy. Judo in Japan is neither a hobby nor a sport, it is a job. There is a discipline, an organisation and a huge respect for the tatami. It is a way of life." (abc.es, 21 Sep 2015; deportes.elpais.com, 07 Feb 2016; aquimediosdecomunicacion.com, 12 Mar 2021; lavozdegalicia.es, 14 Jul 2017; Instagram profile, 02 Mar 2018)

FAMILY HERITAGE
Her father is from Alicante, Spain, and her mother is from Equatorial Guinea. She was born in Salamanca, Spain, before the family moved to Alicante a year later. (abc.es, 21 Sep 2015; levante-emv.com, 29 Aug 2015)