The Olympic boxer, Felix “Golden Boy” Fuchs, uses the drive for a gold medal to overcome his anxiety.
S. Soluianova Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
U.S. boxer Virginia Fuchs, who suffers from a phobia of contamination, had to make a difficult decision to fly to the Tokyo Olympics during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The flyweight fighter, who was 33 at the time, made the trek to the Olympics because he wanted to earn a gold medal.
Teammates have taken to calling Fuchs “Ginny the pirate,” and on Sunday she made the first step toward her aim with a 3-2 victory over Svetlana Soluianova of Russia.
She was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 12 while receiving treatment for anorexia, and she claims she needs to deal with her contamination anxiety 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
At the Kokugikan Arena, where her team was competing, she declared, “It’s all about the gold medal,” to cheers of “Go Ginny” from the spectators.
We’ve been on the road for a while, and my time spent in a hotel room over the past month has been quite trying. I keep telling myself, “Don’t worry,” over and over again. Those are thoughts that disturb me, but the goal of winning a gold medal has always stood in front of them and motivated me to keep going.
“That’s Exactly why I’ve come.”
Early on, Fuchs showed potential as a distance runner, and she had dreamed of competing in the Olympics ever since she was a little girl. However, she eventually came to terms with the fact that she lacked the necessary talent to make the team.
Then, she tried boxing and ended up winning a bronze medal in the 2018 world championships and a silver medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.
The quadrennial Games, scheduled for 2020 but postponed until 2021, have attracted more than 10,000 competitors to Tokyo.
Fuchs Admitted that “daily is still a Struggle” as she Adjusted to her new Olympic Routine.
“I’m not going to lie, it is challenging,” Fuchs admitted before his upcoming match against Bulgaria’s Stoyka Zhelyazkova Krasteva.
But once more, I will not allow little setbacks to distract me from my mission.
Ten years of hard work have brought me to this point. So, I’m not going to let my fear of contamination stop me for even a second.
