Spanish Olympic champion said goodbye in Birmingham as the most successful karate fighter in history

Two months shy of her 41st birthday, the Spaniard Sandra Sánchez, Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and the most awarded karate fighter in history, confirmed her official farewell from the tatami with the gold medal at the Birmingham World Games.

This gold was the only one Sandra lacked in her extensive collection. The gold medal she won July 8 was her 60th consecutive medal in international tournaments. She has not been without a podium finish since 2015 from the Paris Open, and has not lost a competition since 2019.

In this spectacular career, the Spaniard has the highest titles in two World Championships, seven European Championships and of course the Olympic gold, despite having already reached the national team at the age of 33 after countless ups and downs. Today the Guinness record book has included Sandra Sánchez as the karate fighter with the most victories.

The exclusion of karate by the French organizers from the Paris 2024 Games program makes Sandra the first and last Olympic champion in history in this martial art.

Those who attended the gym in Birmingham on Friday night witnessed the most emotional moment of the karate tournament when the legend of this sport said goodbye to the competition.

Sandra won her last international medal by beating the Japanese Hikaru Ono in the final - as in the last World Cup - with her favorite kata (Chatanyara Kushanku), the same one that she applied in the Olympic final against the also Japanese Kiyou Shimizu.

Before, at the Alabama venue, she had beaten the Australian Alexandrea Camacho Anacan, the German Jasmin Juettner and the Italian Carola Casale. In the semifinals, he did the same with Hong Kong’s Mo Sheueng Grace Lau, an Olympic bronze medalist.

When Sandra stepped up to what would be her last podium, she couldn’t hold back her tears.

“The truth is that I have always been very restrained on the tatami out of respect for our rivals,” the multi-champion tells Around The Rings what she experienced that night.

“I was trying not to cry, but when I picked up the medal, there was a moment when the first tear escaped me… and from then on it was a “non-stop”. It was like a sobbing baby.

“In a way I’m happy to have lived it like this... You have to cry, you have to laugh, you have to feel everything you have to feel, and let it out. It was very beautiful that night”

-Would you have withdrawn if karate were in Paris 2024?

“I would have thought twice. Being part of another Olympic cycle, in addition to the relevance that this has, meant being able to live from karate, having the ADO scholarship in Spain (program of the Olympic Sports Association to support Olympic athletes) and being able to dedicate yourself solely to training.

“In this last year we have no scholarship, no help, we are not professionals and we do not have a salary. Now it is another stage of life, I want to have my own house, I have to do more things, I have to work”.

-Are you frustrated by the exclusion of karate from the Paris Games?

“It gives me a feeling of impotence, of injustice. The criteria to be in the Olympic Games have to be clear, that the sport can know why it is in or out. We didn’t know.”

-Do you hope there will be karate in LA 2028?

“I hope I come back...because what I have experienced has been spectacular and I want more generations to continue living it. Bells are being heard that karate could be there”

After her historic night in Birmingham, Sandra Sánchez will be in the United States for another 10 days with her husband and trainer Jesús del Moral, offering seminars in Kansas and Houston, before returning to Spain.

She wants to create an international karate community from her home gym so she can train with people from around the world.

“I want to share everything that I have experienced, the positive things that karate has given me and also the difficult moments, which are the ones that also make you grow.”