For two-time Olympian Antoinette Rivero, rigorous training and discipline is key but she knows too well the risk of injury in her chosen sport is something that cannot be avoided.

Rivero is already a veteran of several international competitions. Thus, for every tournament she competes in, she already prepares for the worst.

?In taekwondo, the entire competition finishes in just a day. So it?s a given that at the end of the day, we expect our bodies to ache,? the 21-year old taekwondo jin said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

?What we do if experience even a slight injury, we ice it instantly to prevent it from becoming worse. After that we try to take a lot of rest,? she added.

Her worst injury, she recalled, was during training in Korea, suffering from an arm fracture.

?We train there almost every year and each time, we spent about two weeks in Seoul,? Rivero said, noting it was in an all-boys school so she naturally found herself sparring with stronger, male players.

Taekwondo runs in the Rivero family. Her parents are martial arts enthusiasts while her brothers were part of the national team. At the age of four, Rivero remembers watching her brothers compete and by the time she was 13, she was already a member of the national team herself.

At 16, Rivero represented the country as the youngest athlete in the 2004 Athens Olympics and likewise don the national colors in Beijing last year.
She is also a gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games.

Rivero trains daily and tries to stay healthy and admits she and her teammates strictly follow a recommended diet.

On top of discipline and eating right, she said optimism is what keeps her successful especially when competing abroad.

?You need to think positive especially when you know you are facing a good opponent. You can beat that player if you put your heart into and never give up,? she said.