Nathalee Aranda is an Adventist athlete who will represent her native Panama in the long jump category at the Olympic Games in Japan, on August 3.
"Having qualified for the Olympics is a great joy for me because I have been working for years to achieve this goal," said the athlete in an interview for Radio Nuevo Tiempo Peru.
When she received the news of her qualification, her emotion overflowed in a jump and a shout of joy, while she was training. "It was exciting and I gave many thanks to God because thanks to His will, [and our] effort and discipline, we were able to achieve our goal," said Nathalee.
On July 8, 2021, the president of the Republic of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, handed over the national flag to the delegation of Panamanian athletes who will represent the country at the Olympics in Tokyo, and Nathalee Aranda was in charge of receiving it.
For Nathalee, getting to this level has meant going through several challenges, such as the limitations she had for her training and several of the competitions that were cancelled as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite all that, her confidence and faith in God grew stronger.
Nathalee is a 26-year-old athlete who began her athletic career when she was 12 years old. During this journey, she has participated in important sporting events in Central America, the Caribbean and South America, winning championships in some of them.
Today, she is happy to be part of the Olympic Games taking place from 23 July to 8 August in Japan, and says that she owes each of her achievements to God. "Each of my competitions and training, I have always put in God's hands and trusted in Him. My trust is in Him because I know that, with God, […] I can do anything," affirmed the Adventist athlete.
The original news was published here.
Picture: COlimpicoPanama