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April 29, 2008
Posted: 227 GMT
I'm very excited to be writing my first blog! Well, I come from Lima, the capital of Peru and for the last two years I have been living in Saarbrucken, Germany, to try to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing. 
Eyes in the prize of Beijing.
 I have an Olympic Solidarity scholarship that gives me money monthly so I can pay my expenses in Germany and the tournaments I need to play during the Olympic year. Without it I don't think I would ever have been able to go to Olympics. Peru, as you maybe know, is not the world's best country for sports. (In fact, so far we only have nine athletes definitely on their way to Beijing!). So I had to decide that if I wanted to go to the Olympics I had to make my preparation somewhere else. That's when I found out that the Badminton World Federation was starting a training center in Germany for players from countries that are less developed in badminton. There was a two months qualification process to see which players stayed, (because, of course, a lot of people wanted the chance to practice in Germany) and thankfully I made it. Moving to Germany two years ago was very hard for me especially because I had to quit my course in business studies and I had to leave my family - my father, sister and dog (I love dogs!). I had to start a new life in a different continent but with time I learned to adjust to the German rules, way of life, and sausages (ha ha). It helped me a lot that there were 19 other players that also moved here to try to qualify. So I've made some good friends with the same interest as me and now I even have a boyfriend! My dad almost got a heart attack when he found out that he was from Lithuania, but he is always supportive in everything I do; so he invited Kestus (my boyfriend) to come to Peru for vacation. I started playing badminton when I was 10 years old and come from a sporting family - my father and sister were both very good swimming. I swam a lot too, but one day tried badminton with my sister. At first she used to win, but soon I won more often than she did. In fact there have been many times when we had to compete in competitions against each other in national championships or to win a place in a tournament. I own everything in my career to my father because he was the one who was pushing and encouraging me to do my best. He made a lot of sacrifices to always take me to practice and pay for my entry into tournaments. Well , right now I am very nervous because, in terms of qualifying, the Olympic year is almost over and the list of the players who are qualified is about to come out. Even though I am pretty sure of qualifying I still feel a little bit exited and nervous. After the last tournament in the build up to the Olympics is over I will take a two week break. Kestus is coming to Peru to spend holidays with me before the practices starts again in Germany for us to be in our best shape for the Olympics. Well, in my next blog I will tell you how I did in my last tournaments (and about my vacation in Peru). Thanks for reading! Posted by: Badminton player, Claudia Rivero, Peru
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Receive updates from across the world on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. "Olympics and the World" is a blog offering you the thoughts and observations from athletes, journalists around unique personalities preparing for the Olympics in China. Whether it's from the training field, the newsroom or the homes of everyday people, "Olympics and the World" provides you a global pulse as the Beijing Olympics approach. Special Report: Beijing 2008  Athletes
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