Yulen Pereira has come up to talk about his experience at the reality show Survivors, and how he feels it has made him stronger and more prepared for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

But, before all that, who is Yulen Pereira?

Yulen Pereira is a fencer from Spain. He’s an European champion, world champion and captain of the Spanish fencing selection. He’s the son of Manuel Pereira, who’s also a world fencing champion. His mother, Arelys Ramos, is from Cuba and now she’s one of the participants of Survivors 2023.

Pereira also became famous because of his appearance in Survivors 2022 as one of the official contestants, where he had to endure incredibly difficult challenges and tests. It was an opportunity where he could showcase his strength and well prepared body.

One of the remarkable experiences Pereira had in Survivors 2022 was his relationship with Anabel Pantoja, a Spanish television personality. When they first met before the program there was a noticeable interest between the two, and things only went forward once the show started. Yulen was expelled from the show after many months in the game, and this came as a strong blow to Pantoja. Nonetheless, once the show was finished and they both came back to their normal lives, they went on with their normal lives, despite Pereira’s family disapproval.

After many ups and downs, many travels, discussions and rumors, the couple announced in March of 2023 that their relationship had ended. The rupture happened because Pereira cheated on Pantoja with Miss Elite Spain and social media influencer, Melania Puntas.

But enough about the drama, let’s talk about what we’re dealing with. One of the most recognized fencers in the world. Like father, like son.

Pereira’s biggest inspiration and influence in life is his father. When Yulen was a child, he also used to play basketball but decided to focus on fencing, thinking that it could give him better results. It all started with a simple foam sword he used to play with as a child.

He received the 2020 Prize to the Sport Merit as the Most Outstanding Male Athlete in Spain, and now one of his biggest goals is to win the 2024 Olympics.

And speaking of which…

The 2024 Olympics at Paris, France are approaching. Many athletes are excited and have been training restlessly for this moment, and one of them is Yulen Pereira.

He was very serious when he said he was coming back to fencing to give everything he can. He won his first medal on the Sword World Cup at Heidenheim, Germany.

He got bronze after losing the semi finals last year to the bronze European medalist Alexis Bayard, from Suiza; this was at Antalya, Turkey, he lost at 15-9. He won the World Cup by defeating, among other competitors, the current Olympic and World sword champion, the French Romain Cannone. He won over him by 15-14 during the final’s octaves.

He also defeated the Chinese Yuan Xiu by 15-13 on his first match of the day, and after Cannone defeated the Kazakh Elmir Alimzhanov by 15-10, in order to get to the final’s quarters of the World Cup, for the third time in his career.

The previous two were won, but this time it was another story.  Pereira had to work hard to beat Frenchman Nelson López Pourtier, who previously defeated Spanish Juan Pedro Romero, who is 15-10 in the main draw of this World Series.

The bronze of this World Cup surpasses the silver of the 2019 Doha GP, his greatest fencing achievement to date, along with the 2014 European team silver shared with José Luis, among others.  Below, Pirri, the only Olympic medalist in Spain and current president of the Spanish Fencing Federation.

This “lost” medal reinforces the great moment that Spanish fencing is experiencing after years of weakness, where results were barely achieved due to lack of resources and mismanagement by previous federal leaders.

Last January, Carlos Llavador won bronze at the World Foil Championship in Paris.  In addition, Lucía Martín-Portugués won silver at the Sword Grand Prix held in Tunisia just two days later.  Successes that augur the presence of Spain in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Pereira during an interview talked about how he felt like his experience at Survivors made him tougher. It was a life-changing experience for him, to see himself in a way he could’ve never imagined, and facing truly difficult challenges. He’s taking as a success the mere fact of getting to the Olympics, and still he’s ready to go for that win.

One of the things Survivors taught him was to be resistant, persistent and determined. He left the show with a lot to recover physically-wise, but with a stronger will and much more capacity to overpower life and sports hardships.