Mexico shines at the Tokyo Paralympic Games

Monica Olivia Rodriguez Saavedra and her guide Kevin Aguilar celebrate gold after winning the 1,500 meters at the Paralympic Games.Joel Marklund for OIS / AP

One of the biggest slogans in Paralympic sport is never to compare it to mainstream sport.

Successes in the adapted division have brought joy to Mexico this summer.

Its athletes won 22 medals with seven golds, two silvers and 13 bronzes, their best participation since 2004, and they managed to show that despite the economic instability in their sport, they can be won.

Tokyo 2020 was held under the uncertainty and health controls derived from the pandemic.

Mexico attended with 60 athletes, 29 women and 31 men.

The seven gold medals that the country won were thanks to the efforts of Mónica Rodríguez in athletics, Amalia Pérez in weightlifting, José Rodolfo Chessani in athletics, Jesús Hernández in the 150 meters in swimming, Arnulfo Castorena in the 50 meters in the pool, Diego López in freestyle swimming and Juan Diego García in taekwondo, the first for a Mexican in this discipline.

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The great Mexican athlete was Diego López, 26, who won three medals (gold, silver and bronze) in swimming. The one born in Xalapa, Veracruz, has established himself after having a career full of records and recognitions when he was champion in 2019. Jesús Hernández also won three medals, all bronze, in the waters. “I am surprised with these results. There are new Paralympic medalists and people that we were able to repeat, after having passed this issue of the pandemic I was surprised that we were able to get the caste ”, says Lenia Ruvalcaba, bronze medalist in judo.

"We are all an example in this life, we are a cog in this piece called life," Jesús Hernández told the TUDN chain after winning the gold.

Hernández, who also won bronze in the 50-meter breaststroke, enrolled in swimming for rehabilitation after being born with a congenital shoulder malformation and cerebral palsy.

“It is something extraordinary for me, I feel like the phoenix rising from its ashes, because I had cancer and when everyone believed that I could not get ahead, there I was;

Furthermore, this bronze medal symbolizes a great challenge for me, it is a test in which I have mastered my fears ”, said Hernández.

Mexican Diego López after winning the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle.Lintao Zhang / Getty Images

Paralympic sport has historically shown that Mexico can be one of the leaders in the medal table. The best participation in the Games was in Arnhem 1980 when the Mexican team won 20 gold, 16 silver and six bronze to add 42 historical medals. Other large participations have been Toronto 1976 (39), in New York / Stoke Mandeville 1984 (37), Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 (34) and Seoul 1988 (24). The performance in Tokyo 2020 surpasses the 15 medals won in the past cycle, that of Rio 2016, London 2012 and Beijing 2008.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of Mexico, highlighted that 500 million pesos have been invested for Mexican athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics. "They will be given, including their coaches, economic incentives," announced the president on the day of his third government report. Conventional athletes won four bronze medals at Tokyo 2020 and added up to seven fourth places.

“I don't like to compare, I started doing conventional sports and I know that the challenge is also important. The result in the Olympics and the Paralympics is the same for me. Everyone knows the merits and efforts to be in an Olympic and Paralympic joust. They tell me: 'It's that [para-athletes] always bring more medals.' Yes, Mexico always brings more medals, but it must be seen that in Paralympic sport there is perhaps more opportunity with respect to the classification categories. It is important to recognize the work of athletes. Sports culture is badly needed in Mexico. It must improve, we must not remember athletes every four years ”, says Lenia Ruvalcaba.

Mexico closed its participation in Tokyo only below Brazil (71 medals) and was placed above Cuba (six), Venezuela (seven), Chile (six) and Colombia, which despite winning 24 medals, the classification privileges the medals gold and the coffee delegation added three golds, seven silvers and 14 bronzes.

Mexican medalists

In addition to the seven golds, Mexico added two silvers thanks to Diego López and Gloria Zarza's silver in bullet momentum.

The country added 13 bronze medals with Lenia Ruvalcaba and Eduardo Ávila in judo, Leonardo de Jesús Pérez and Juan Pablo Cervantes in athletics, Rosa Castro and Rosa María Guerrero in discus throw, Rebeca Valenzuela in shot put.

In swimming, Jesús Hernández and Diego López repeated, as well as Ángel Camacho, Fabiola Ramírez and Nely Miranda.

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