Mexico finishes in 84th place in the Tokyo 2020 medal standings

After almost two weeks of activities, the Mexican delegation finished in 84th place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games medal table with only four bronze medals, despite the fact that at the beginning of the summer competition 10 medals had been predicted.

In Tokyo 2020, the Mexican delegation won third place on four occasions through Aremi Fuentes (weightlifting), Alejandra Valencia, and Luis Álvarez (mixed archery), Alejandra Orozco and Gabriela Agúndez (synchronized diving from the 10-meter platform), and the Olympic Tri in soccer.

This event was far from being the best in the history of national sports, however, Mexico concluded its participation with 21 awards, four medals, and 17 Olympic diplomas, of which seven were just one step away from bronze, three were for fifth place, six for sixth place and one for eighth place. Several of those 'fourth places' were obtained by young Mexicans, who just made their debut in the Olympic Games, leading the generational relay in the national sport.

Leaving aside Mexico 68, London 2012 is one of the best records in terms of medals, with 8 medals and 14 diplomas for a total of 22 awards, only one more than in Tokyo 2020. In Rio 2016, the quota obtained was five metals and 15 diplomas for a total of 20 awards with consolidated athletes in diving and taekwondo.

After the above, it is difficult to conclude that the performance in Tokyo 2020 was disastrous or the worst, since the record of awards exceeds Rio 2016, and most of these fourth places were obtained by promising young athletes. An example of this was the diving pairs of Kevin Berlin and Diego Balleza (10m platform) and Dolores Hernandez and Carolina Mendoza (3m springboard), who in their first Olympic Games finished in fourth place, leaving a fond impression for Paris 2024.

Medals

Alejandra Valencia and Luis Álvarez, Mixed Archery, Bronze
Alejandra Orozco and Gabriela Agúndez, Synchronized Diving, Platform 10 m, Bronze
Aremi Fuentes, Weightlifting, Bronze
Mexican National Team, Soccer, Bronze

Mexico achieves record number of medals in Paralympic Games

Arnulfo Castorena and Jesús Hernández who made 1-3 in the 50m breaststroke SB2 meant a historical fact for Mexico, the Mexicans gave them the medals that completed the 300 medals in Paralympic Games. The trio of Jesús Hernández, Arnulfo Castorena, and Cristopher Tronco was exceptional, as their explosiveness in the water was essential for them to win the gold medal.

Veteran Arnulfo Castorena took top honors by winning his third Paralympic gold with a time of 59.29 seconds. The gold medal at Tokyo 2020 represents his third gold medal of that color, as well as in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Chucho Hernandez also achieved one more joy for Mexico, as he won the bronze medal with a time of 1:02.27. Cristopher Tronco came in fourth place with a time of 1:04.46.

It should be noted that Chucho Hernandez, who is a double Paralympic medalist, has a couple more opportunities to climb the podium again; he has pending his participation in the 200m freestyle S3 and the 50m freestyle S3. Mexican para-athletes started with a great performance in this Olympic competition, Fabiola Ramirez won the 290th medal for our country, by winning the bronze medal in the final of the 100m backstroke, S2 classification.

That was the path followed by Mexican athletes, as the first gold was courtesy of Amalia Perez in powerlifting when she obtained 131 kilograms in her third attempt. But it was not until August 30 that Mexico was able to achieve two goals, the first 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games, thanks to Monica Rodriguez and her guide Kevin Aguilar, who won gold in the 1500 meters T11.

Later the second goal was achieved, to reach 300 medals in the Paralympic Games, the medals obtained were in the swimming discipline in the 50m breaststroke SB2, Arnulfo Castorena won the gold and Jesus Hernandez won the bronze.

How many medals has Mexico won in the Paralympic Games?

The first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960, however, it was not until Heidelberg in 1972 that Mexico had its first participation. Since then, the Aztec delegation has participated in 12 editions and currently has 289 medals: 97 gold, 90 silver, and 102 bronze.

The sports where medals have predominated are athletics with 196 medals, swimming with 67 medals, and 14 in weightlifting; Mexico also dominates other disciplines such as archery, judo, and wrestling.  The historic participation of the Mexican Paralympic delegation was in Arnhem 1980 where 42 medals were obtained (20 gold, 16 silver, 6 bronze).

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

In the last edition of the Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 a total of 4,328 athletes from 159 countries participated, who in twelve days of activity managed to break 220 world records and 432 Paralympic records in the 528 events that were held; and who delivered medals in 22 sports.

In Rio, the Mexican delegation won a total of 15 medals, of which 4 were gold, 2 silver, and 9 bronze. With this result, they placed 29th on the Paralympic medal list. Some of the winners were Amalia Pérez, Eduardo Ávila, María de los Ángeles Ortiz and Edgar Navarro, who will also participate in Tokyo 2020. According to Melba Parí, the Mexican ambassador to Japan, on average Mexico wins 24 medals in each edition of the Paralympic Games. Expectations for Tokyo are high, with 100 gold medals and a total of 300 medals.