BEYOND the matches and medals, Annie Ramirez tells a bigger story, one that proves a woman’s journey has no expiration date.
At 34, she has shown no signs of slowing down. She struck gold at the Jiu-Jitsu International Federation World Championship in November 2025, the crowning achievement of a career that continues to unfold on her own terms.
Now 35, Ramirez remains in the thick of the fight, adding to an impressive collection of gold medals and podium finishes across the Asian Championships, Asian Beach Games, and the Southeast Asian Games.
In a space where women are often measured against time, where the idea of a “biological clock” lingers in conversations, Ramirez pushes back not with noise but with results.
“Hindi hadlang yung ‘biological clock’ ng pagiging babae, o kumbaga expiration date. Just keep proving them wrong,” Ramirez told SPIN.ph in an interview during the 2026 All-Women Sports Awards by the Philippine Sports Commission in Pasay last March 20.
Her journey has not been about beating the clock, but resetting it. While others talk about peaks and primes, Ramirez leans on growth, the kind that comes with experience, adjustment, and resilience.
“Habang tumatanda tayo, there are changes… within a year pa lang, iba-iba ang nagbabago sa katawan ko, pero nasa sa akin ’yun kung paano ko lalagpasan.”
Each year demands something different. A tweak in diet. A shift in weight. A deeper understanding of how her body responds. These are not setbacks, but part of the process, one she chooses to embrace as she continues life as a national athlete.
“Sabi nga nila ang babae, pag nanganganak, lumalakas pa. Hindi pa tayo umabot doon, pero it doesn’t mean na babae ka, may expiration date ka. Just keep proving them wrong,” she added.
In jiu-jitsu, a sport that demands physicality, Ramirez, just like fellow Filipinas like Hidilyn Diaz and Adeline Dumapong, among others, have quietly become some of the most reliable sources of gold for the country.
It is a role built not just on strength, but on persistence, the kind that refuses to be defined by age.
In fact, in less than two weeks, Ramirez will once again be seeing action at the women's 57-kg of the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China.
And as Women’s Month comes to a close, her message lands with clarity.
There is no deadline on ambition, no fixed timeline on success, and most especially, no clock that defines what a woman can do or cannot do.
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