Inês Henriques is a Portuguese race walker. Internationally, she has won bronze medals at the 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and the 2010 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics. She represented Portugal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics and has competed at the World Championships in Athletics on eight occasions from 2001 to 2017.
She won at the Chihuahua City meeting of the 2012 IAAF World Race Walking Challenge in March.
In 2017, in London, she won the gold medal in the 50km walk event, held for the first time during the World Championships in Athletics. With her time of 4:05:56, she also set the world record for the event.
Medal record
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 London 50 km walk
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2018 Berlin 50 km walk
Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Inês Henriques, Portuguese race walker, World Champion and World record holder in the women 50km walk event here she talks about her diet and the success story.
Namita Nayyar:
In 2017, in London, you won the gold medal in the 50km walk event, held for the first time during the World Championships in Athletics and also set the world record for the event. Share your feelings & challenges in achieving this goal?
Inês Henriques:
In 2017, in London, you won the gold medal in the 50km walk event, held for the first time during the World Championships in Athletics and also set the world record for the event. Share your feelings & challenges in achieving this goal?
My first victory was achieving the 50km women race walk at the World Championship with all the same rights as in other competitions.
The momoent I started the competition, I knew that I would have to show all the world that we, women, have the same physyical and psychological capacity to perform with high quality the 50km race walk, so that the 50km women race walk would have continuity. To meet this big challenge, I had to achieve 3 objectives:
– Being the World Champion;
– Beat the world record;
– Doing less than 4hours06minutes, which was the minimum time established for men.
The preparation went well e I was physically and psychologically strong. I felet that everything could be possible, I felt confidente and happy because we were making history in world sports.
I followed all my coach’s instructions at the competition and everything went as we expected.
It was amazing. I was really worn out in the last quilometres but with a great joy, difficult to describe in words. I was reaching all the goals I had proposed myself. I was achieving the dream of my life, being the best in the world.. making history.
My coach was there when I crossed the finish line and the only thing we said to each othe was: “We did it!”
After 25 years working together we have reached the top. What I felt a this moment was the reward of many years of work and dedication.
Namita Nayyar:
Were your eyes always set on becoming a professional athlete? Share two incidents from the baby steps that led you to become a winner.
Inês Henriques:
I’ve started athletics in 1992. Since then I’ve always been dedicated to it. I started to have good results and I felt I could make progress much more so I had to work to achieve my goals.
My parents are from humble families with few possessions and everything they have is due to hard work.
I was raised knowing that I had to work hard to reach my goals. My parents “always gave me the fishing rod, but never the fish!”
I probably am who I am because of the way I was educated and also because I met my coach who has similar values to mine.
Full Interview is Continued on Next Page
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2021 Women Fitness
Namita Nayyar:
Introduce us to a day in your life, as an athlete and a woman full of aspirations.
Inês Henriques:
I usually get up at 8am and I have breakfast. At 9 am I go to the Rio Maior Sports Centre to do my morning training, which is always the most intense and the longest of the day.
I have lunch at 1pm, then I have rest in the early afternoon. When I need to go to the pysyiotherapist I go at 4pm and then I return to training at 5.30pm. This training is a recovery session, shorter and less intense.
I have massages twice a week after the afternoon training.
I have dinner at 8pm at the Rio Maior Sports Centre and go home around 9pm.
This is my daily life.
Namita Nayyar:
Share the diet that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit? 5 foods you absolutely love. On a special occasion, you would like to cook one thing.
Inês Henriques:
My mother is a great cook and has always been used to Mediterranean food with lots of vegetables and fruit, so healthy eating has been a concern since my childhood.
I usually eat my meals at the Rio Maior Internship Center, where food and meals are designed and prepared with the support of nutritionists for athletes, so I don’t have to worry.
I really like cod gomes sá, duck rice and my mother’s orange pie, strawberries and nuts.
Namita Nayyar:
Having to train constantly in extreme climate conditions, how do you take care of your skin and hair? 5 night time skincare rituals.
Inês Henriques:
Regarding the skin, before starting the training I always put sunscreen factor 50 anti-stains. Before going to bed I clean the skin, apply a serum, eye contour cream and anti-wrinkle night cream.
The hair is more complicated, I try to take it on alternate days, but as I sweat a lot I need to wash more often and some moments it gets a little drier. I use a repairing shampoo and a mask to make the hair smoother.
Namita Nayyar:
Who has been your greatest influence and motivator in your career?
Inês Henriques:
When I started my sports career, the athlete Susana Feitor, also a walker, had been a Junior World Champion and somehow was the inspiration of the youngest athletes in Rio Maior.
Namita Nayyar:
Share with us your HIIT home workout that works great for an athlete’s body? 5 stretches that must be done to avoid injury.
Inês Henriques:
To avoid injury, it is very important for me to rest and eat well, so that the body can recover the training for training or as soon as possible. He also performed muscle strengthening training to have a stronger and more resistant structure.
Namita Nayyar:
Five tips to work upon for aspiring athletes.
Inês Henriques:
The athlete must enjoy the sport he practices, be dedicated and committed, must achieve realistic goals, be persistent and not let his arms down at the first difficulties and respect that he works with him.
Namita Nayyar:
Amidst the terror of COVID-19, one life lesson that you’ve learned?
Inês Henriques:
It was and is being a difficult time, because sport still doesn’t know what its future will be like!
COVID-19 reinforced my lesson, that our family is the most important thing we have!
Namita Nayyar:
5 fitness must-do that an aspiring Olympian must learn.
Inês Henriques:
Eat properly, sleep well, respect the coach and remain with the team, be obedient, hardworking and know how to respect the body.
Namita Nayyar:
Share a few words about the website Womenfitness.net and message for our visitors?
Inês Henriques:
Women fitness, is a magazine for us women, and where we find lots of advice to improve our lifestyle, our fitness and our health. Be happy…
Inês Henriques social media presence
- Instagram @ines_henriques80
- Facebook @inesphenriques80
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2021 Women Fitness