Mexico has reason for hope in future Games
OLYMPICS
Within a span of 72 hours, Guillermo Perez and Maria del Rosario Espinoza gave Mexico more gold medals than it had earned in the last five Olympics combined.
BEIJING -- Paola Espinosa carried Mexico's flag in the opening ceremony, and for the first week and a half of the Beijing Games, she carried her country's Olympic hopes as well. Because through 12 days of competition, the bronze medal Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz won in synchronized platform diving was Mexico's only prize.
Then taekwondo started. And within the span of 72 hours, Guillermo Perez and Maria del Rosario Espinoza gave Mexico more gold medals than it had earned in the last five Olympics combined.
"It is a historic breakthrough," said Espinoza, who received a call of congratulations from Mexican President Felipe Calderon shortly after her victory Saturday in the women's heavyweight final.
A breakthrough that might have saved the jobs of quite a few people.
Mexico's disappointing performance early in the Games led to pointed criticism of the country's sports federation (CODEME) and the cabinet-level commission on sports (CONADE) headed by former national soccer team star Carlos Hermosillo.
"The Mexican sports system does not produce high-performance athletes and today, once again, it's in crisis," charged the Mexico City daily El Universal.
"The problem . . . basically is the insufficient way that our sports authorities identify, prepare and support our athletes," wrote Julio Serrano in the national newspaper Milenio, which also reported accusations against the Mexican Olympic Committee, whose members were charged with giving preference to their families over the country's 80-plus athletes.
It's not the first time the Mexican sports hierarchy has been charged with ignoring its mandate. Former world champion sprinter Ana Guevara, who has been among the loudest critics, became so fed up she retired over the winter rather than compete in Beijing.
"We urgently need new people, qualified, with experience and above all honest and transparent," said German Silva, a two-time Olympic distance runner and now one of Mexico's top coaches.
The two golds in taekwondo helped soften that mood somewhat, although the three medals Mexico won in Beijing only matches the number it earned in Athens four years ago. And it's just half what Mexico won in Sydney eight years ago.
Only the 1968 team, which won nine medals -- three of them gold -- in Mexico City was more successful than the Sydney squad. The Mexicans didn't build on their Sydney success, though, which may be one reason three of the four medal winners in Beijing talked afterward about the future, not the past.
- Mexico turns to youth for push toward Beijing Aug 18, 2007
- Beijing Costs Rise Feb 10, 2002
- The iron fists before gold medals Mar 23, 2008
